Harry Potter and the Dark Healer - Year Two
by Citywriter84
Summary: Harry and his best friend, Sadie McIntyre, the Dark Healer, are beginning their second year at Hogwarts. There they are reunited with Draco, Pansy, Tracy and their other friends in Slytherin House, and the gang have more wild adventures in store. Why is Harry hearing sinister voices that no one else can, and who is the mysterious Heir of Slytherin? Will Harry and Sadie find out?
1. Chapter 1

**Diagon Alley Again**

* * *

**Author's Note:** _This story is a sequel to Harry Potter and the Dark Healer Year One, which is also on my profile!_

* * *

The halls and passageways of Hogwarts were almost deserted over the summer. The students had all gone home, and most of the staff did not live there. Harry and his adoptive mother, the hag Cora Coldfire, were free to play games of tag up and down the empty corridors. Their old home in the sewers had certainly never been this roomy. Cora had only owned a cave.

"You can't escape a hag, my love!" Cora called, as she ran after him in leaps and bounds as he dashed down the corridor. He had given her the slip, but then she jumped out of a linen cupboard, catching him in her muscular green arms and tickling him as he giggled madly. She planted kisses all over his face, her red hair getting in his eyes. "Whew." She sat with one arm around him, brushing her hair out of her eyes with a free hand. Her green face gleamed with a sheen of perspiration. "My boy's growing up fast and strong. You could never give me the run around like this before."

Harry pulled her green arm. "Let's play ball. C'mon!"

On the deserted Quidditch pitch they chucked a Quaffle to one another. "Too bad you can't come flying with me," said Harry.

Cora sighed, and shook her head. "I wish I could. Hags can't fly though. I happen to fly like a rock."

They went to visit the kitchens next, to visit the house elves and have supper.

The house-elves were a friendly bunch, always cheerful, smiling and curtseying. The had a cooked steak and kidney pie for Harry, followed by treacle tart. For Cora, they had a plate of raw liver and offal.

The hag beamed, her white teeth contrasting with her green face. "Thank you so much, dears. You do such great work. Wish I could cook like you do."

"Thank you, hag," said a house-elf, bowing low. "Hard work is good."

"Aww, you're so adorable," said Cora, making a kissy face.

At that moment, there was a crack, and another house elf appeared. This one was not a Hogwarts elf. He was not dressed in a clean tea towel. He was in fact dressed in a dirty old pillow case. He had huge, bat like ears and a long thin nose, like a pencil. Harry recognised him. "Dobby!"

"You know each other?" said Cora.

"This is Dobby, the Malfoy's elf," said Harry. "What are you doing here, Dobby? Did Draco send you?"

"No, Harry Potter Sir," said Dobby, "Dobby will have to shut his ears in the oven door for this."

"What!" Cora exclaimed in horror, her blue eyes wide.

"I can't believe Draco would be that cruel," said Harry uncomfortably.

"Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, Harry Potter Sir," said Dobby, rubbing his hands together. "Dobby is constantly hitting himself about the head, or giving himself a terrific flogging."

Cora was still staring at Dobby with horrified blue eyes.

The other house elves were encircling Dobby, who lay down at Harry's feet. "If Harry Potter knew what he means to us lowly, us enslaved… us dregs of the magical world."

"Who is you referring to exactly, Dobby?" asked one of the Hogwarts elves.

"Dobby is referring to those who fawn and scrape before Harry Potter like Dobby himself does, Sir," said Dobby. "Harry Potter is valiant, and noble, and kind, and so strong… he could come to enjoy pain like Dobby does."

Cora took Harry's hand in her own. "That elf isn't all there…" she murmured.

Dobby drew a letter from his pocket. "Dobby has Harry's friends letter. If Harry Potter leaves Hogwarts to live with Dobby…"

"Give me my boy's letter!" yelled Cora, her green face crinkling in anger.

The other elves grabbed Dobby and snatched the letter from him. Dobby disappeared with a crack.

Harry unfolded the letter. It was written in purple ink and he recognised the long, sloping handwriting of his best friend, Sadie McIntyre. The Dark Healer.

"Sadie's invited us to stay at Hillside House. That wretched Dobby… We might have missed her message altogether."

* * *

00O00

They owled Jamie McIntyre to arrange to travel by Floo. When they got a message of approval back, Cora took Harry to the kitchen fire and chucked a handful of the glittering green powder into it. The fire whooshed and turned green.

"Hill House," said Harry.

He and Cora stepped into the fire, Cora holding Harry's hand. The unpleasant sensation of Floo travel followed, and finally they emerged from the fireplace at Hillside House.

Sadie was waiting for them. She was a strange looking girl. She had accidentally disfigured her face in one of her experiments. Now she looked like she had a melted green mannequin mask fused onto her face. She always dyed her long hair purple, and her disfigurement didn't change that, so looking at her, you got the impression of a disfigured green and purple doll. She clapped her little hands together when they emerged from the fire and gave a squeal, running up to them, her long purple hair flying. She flung her arms around Harry, nuzzling his neck with her cold, green face and giving a soft little moan.

Then she hugged Cora in turn.

"Welcome! Welcome!" she said. Her green face was split in a grin so wide, that Harry could see her blue eyes scrunching through the eye holes in her mask. "Thank you so much for coming! It's been so lonely since Tracy went to France." She took hold of both of their hands. "I'm gonna love having you both here."

One of the first things Sadie wanted to do was show them one of her weird Dark experiments. Sadie's enthusiasm for Dark Magic hadn't been diminished in the slightest.

She led them into the cellars where she'd set up a lab of some kind, with all these glass vials and tubes, surrounding a wooden table. On the table was what looked like a purple, plastic mannikin, roughly humanoid shaped, with blunt arms and legs and just a slit for a mouth with one of the glass tubes stuck in it. Esoteric symbols were drawn around it.

"I may have cracked it," said Sadie, rubbing her little hands together. "I may have brought Chip to life." She turned her face to the mannikin, and her green mask rippled as her features underneath moved to form a kissy face. "My sweet little Chip. Come to life and make Mummy happy."

Cora had been looking faintly bemused, but now she smiled. "Ah, he's like your baby, Sadie."

This was a concept Cora was comfortable with.

Sadie grinned. "He sure is."

She removed the tube from Chip's mouth. The little mannikin twitched and began to move, making a little coughing and sneezing noise.

"Oh Chip!" Sadie gathered him up in her arms and planted a kiss on his purple head. "You did it. You live again."

"Again?" Harry wondered what that meant.

* * *

00O00

Up in Sadie's room, there was further evidence of her experiments. The shelves had jars of slimy pickled things, hanging suspended in preserving potions, and the bench was stacked with cauldrons and jars of ingredients.

Sadie gestured around. "Bit messy." She chuckled. "Had to move my stuff around. Conquering death isn't easy."

"This is your thing about wanting to stop people dying?" Said Harry. "Using Dark Magic?"

Sadie had wanted to become a Dark Healer and use the Dark Arts to stop people dying, ever since her mum had been unable to cure a terminally ill Muggle boy with conventional healer methods.

Sadie nodded, her purple hair rippling and bouncing. "Someday, Harry. Someday, death will be a thing of the past. But it won't be easy. Defying nature is always hard."

Chip was sitting on Sadie's shoulder. He made a tiny, burbling noise.

"I know, Chip," said Sadie soothingly, reaching up to stroke his head.

Cora's eyes lit up as she noticed a jar of black beetles. Sadie saw her interest. "Help yourself," she said politely, handing the jar to the hag who munched on them appreciatively.

* * *

00O00

Out in the garden, Harry and Sadie got ready to practice flying. "Wish I could fly," said Cora sighing. "Sadly, it's something I can never do with you."

"Aw." Sadie touched her green arm with a little hand. "Don't worry. I can barely fly."

They left Chip with Cora on the ground below. Harry showed off what a savant he was when it came to flying. He'd never had any difficulty with it at all. He shot high into the air like a speeding bullet, leaving Sadie far below. The county was all spread out beneath him like a map. He shot higher and higher, up above the clouds, where the chill wind buffeted him and made his spirits sing.

He plummeted back down to where Sadie was, and showed off by doing loop the loops around her.

"Careful. Don't fall." She urged.

"How could I fall?" he bragged. "Bludgers cannot make it happen. Voldemort himself couldn't."

He neglected to mention that Sadie had thwarted Voldemort's efforts to sabotage him that time, and Sadie was too polite to point it out to him.

"I know…" she said. "But it never gets any easier, seeing you get Bludgers whacked at you by rough Gryffindors."

Later that day, they received an owl from Draco suggesting they meet up in Diagon Alley to do their shopping.

At tea, Harry brought up the subject of Dobby. "I dunno what the elf's game was exactly. He said he came to Hogwarts without permission and he would have to shut his hears in the Malfoy's oven door as punishment. If that's true, the Malfoy's certainly don't spare punishment if he gets out of order."

Sadie gave a little start, her mask moving strangely as her face underneath moved to form an indignant expression. "What? That's awful. It'd better not be true." She breathed through her nose.

"Oh, who knows?" said Harry, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry about the elf. You can ask Draco calmly about it when we go to Malfoy Manor."

"The Malfoys don't think highly of non-humans," said Cora with a sigh.

Sadie's masked face contorted into a grimace. "They're wrong."

"But it's not just them," said Harry. "Plenty of witches and wizards share their attitude."

It was perfectly true. Sadie was Harry's only friend who knew all about Cora and the fact that she was a hag. Cora couldn't come with them to see the Malfoys. That was awkward. Sadie looked uncomfortable. She obviously felt awkward about this too. Then Sadie smiled, like she'd had an idea. "Cora, Chip can't come with us to Diagon Alley. It's a bit much for him, travelling by Floo. I'd love it if you could please babysit."

"It'd be my pleasure," said Cora grinning.

* * *

00O00

Floo wasn't Harry's favourite way to travel. On the trip from Hillside House to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley, it felt as though he were being sucked down a giant drain. The trip was much more turbulent than the one to Hillside House. Finally, it seemed he was slowing down. He hadn't imagined it, and though his head was still spinning, he opened his eyes and staggered out of the Floo. Fortunately, Sadie was there to steady him as he emerged from the fireplace.

"Alright there, Potter?" drawled Draco. "Don't you have your Floo legs?" Draco was here too, smirking at Harry's difficulty with the Floo.

"There's a stool at the counter," Sadie told him. "I'll walk you there."

After his first steps had been so dreadful, he was inclined to accept her help. She gripped him with her little hands and steered him to the counter. Legs shaking slightly, he sat gratefully and looked around.

He was in the public room at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry smiled, remembering all the people who'd been so awed of him and eager to shake his hand. At the time he'd been downright confused and embarrassed, but now he felt like he understood them a bit better. Accidental or not, he was still a hero. He'd helped these people, and they were grateful.

At least he wasn't alone now. Draco and Sadie, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy could do a fine job of making sure he didn't get mobbed. It would inevitably happen as soon as someone caught sight of his scar.

Lucius and Narcissa popped out of the Floo a minute later, and Harry was feeling slightly better. His face must still have been green (not as green as Sadie's obviously), because Draco snapped his fingers at Old Tom the bartender. "Tom, five butterbeers. Look sharp."

Sadie gave Tom an apologetic smile with the lips of her mask.

"So good to see you again, Mr Potter," Mr. Malfoy said smoothly. He laid a gold Galleon on the counter. Old Tom set down five frosty tankards filled with a foamy yellow beverage. He started to make change, but Mr. Malfoy waved him away. "Drink up, Harry. Butterbeer is one of life's finest delights."

Harry took a sip of his drink and closed his eyes in bliss. The cold drink was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted. A warm glow filled him, and he set the tankard down with a thump.

"Good, eh?" Draco winked at him.

"Yummy!" said Sadie, wiping the foam off her green mask.

"Very," Harry said, wiping his mouth.

"I have some business to attend to," Mr. Malfoy told the trio. He kept one arm tucked beneath his light summer cloak, holding a box of some kind. His other hand gripped the handle of his silver cane. "Draco, will you all be alright for the time being?"

"Yes, Father," Draco said.

"Good. I'll meet you at Flourish and Blotts in one hour." Lucius and Narcissa left.

Harry tried to make his drink last as long as possible, but it was so good that he couldn't help drinking it quickly.

"Can we get more?" he asked.

Draco laughed. "Maybe on the way back through," he said. "I want to get to Quality Quidditch and look at the new models for awhile."

"That's nice," said Sadie, smiling at him. "Which do you think you'd get?"

"Wouldn't mean anything to you, Sadie, the way you fly," said Draco. "You don't get brooms." He stood up and swallowed the last of his butterbeer. "You done?"

Harry followed suit. "I am now," he agreed. They followed Draco out to the back alley. Draco drew his wand and tapped three times on the third brick up, two bricks over.

The brick quivered for a second, wriggling in place. The other bricks set to squirming as well, and soon they were all folding back to form an archway.

Harry had seen it once before, but it was still impressive. He stepped through onto the crowded street and smiled. Magic was in the air.

Owls shrieked at Eeylops' Owl Emporium. Cauldrons rang at Potage's shop just across the way. Everywhere there were people milling about, chatting, buying, and selling. In the distance he could see the snowy white pillars of Gringotts rising high above the other shops.

Harry needed to get his money before he did anything else. The trio stood in the queue for only ten minutes before there was a goblin free to see him. He could just barely see the top of the counter as he placed his vault key for the goblin's inspection.

"Harry Potter, vault six-eight-seven, please."

The goblin peered at the key. "This seems to be in order," it said in a squeaky, high-pitched voice that startled Harry. "Roundtop will take you down. Roundtop!"

Roundtop was a goblin with an extremely long, pointed nose. He led Harry and Draco over to the cart and they set off at dizzying speeds. Draco whooped and shouted as they rode, clearly having fun. "Isn't this great? Make it go faster."

Harry held on tightly to the restraint bar and tried not to be sick. Sadie put an arm round him for which he was grateful.

"Faster!" demanded Draco.

"No! Harry doesn't like it," said Sadie tersely.

"He doesn't need you coddling him," said Draco. Sadie's masked face creased into a frown.

Two dizzying experiences, Harry reflected, and still the Floo trip back. He wondered when his stomach was going to insist that it had had quite enough of this sort of treatment.

"Vault six-eight-seven," the goblin informed them as the cart slammed to a sudden halt. Harry leaned over the side and spat the bile that had risen in his throat. Wearily, he dragged himself out of the cart and onto the stone shelf. He handed the goblin his key and stepped in as the doors opened.

The green smoke billowed away, and Harry took a good look at his fortune. Beside him, Draco sneered. "Pocket change."

"Honestly, Draco," said Sadie, rolling her eyes. "You're such a show off. It's more money than most kids have seen in one place."

"There's more here than when I was here last year," Harry said, feeling slightly confused. "Does money here collect interest?"

"Some," Draco told him. "Maybe you've got some investments your parents left for you. Father has a trust fund set up for me that I'm not allowed to touch until I come of age. If your parents did that, the earnings would pile up here."

There was a new pile of gold Galleons. The stacks of silver Sickles had grown even taller. Bronze Knuts were heaped in piles everywhere. Harry brought out his money pouch and began loading it up with a liberal mix of the coins.

"There is enough for a team of Nimbuses," Draco said wistfully.

"I think that's 'Nimbii'," Harry said helpfully.

Draco rolled his eyes. "You sound like Tracy."

Sadie giggled. "Tracy says 'hi' by the way."

Harry found the ride back up was just as dizzying and sickening as the ride down, even with Sadie's arms around him. The butterbeer he'd consumed cushioned his system a bit, but Harry felt decidedly queasy as they stepped into the street and hurried to look at the new Comet-280 on display.

Draco mooned over the broom for a bit, but not excessively. They encountered Terry Boot and struck up a discussion about Quidditch. Before it seemed five minutes had passed, their free hour was up, and they had to hurry off to the book shop.

The shop had quite a mob out in front. Jostling back and forth, it seemed as though the crowd would press into critical density. The reason for the crowd was proclaimed by a large banner stretched along the upper windows:

**GILDEROY LOCKHART**

will be signing copies of his autobiography

**MAGICAL ME**

today 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.

The crowd was made up mostly of witches around Mrs. Malfoy's age. A harried-looking wizard stood at the door, saying, "Calmly, please, ladies. Don't push. Please mind the books."

The trio squeezed inside and spotted Tracy almost immediately. She and Sadie both squealed and Sadie ran into her arms. Tracy picked up the smaller girl and kissed her green face. Sadie pressed her nose against' her friend's. "Why didn't you tell me when you'd be here, my love?"

"Bet you slipped her mind," said Draco.

"Don't be stupid, Draco," said Tracy coolly. "I begged Mum and Dad to take Sadie to France with us, but they said it was family only. I was very cross with them." She pouted.

When Harry got close, she gave him a warm hug. "How've you been?" She didn't wait for an answer, but rattled on cheerfully. "Isn't it great?" she said. "Lockhart's written almost the whole booklist, and he's actually here today. What fabulous luck!"

"Going to get his biography?" Draco teased her. She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Autobiography. Hardly, but Pansy already has a copy, and she's right up near the front to get it signed.

"If she's up front, let's go stand with her," Draco suggested. "I'd like to meet this fellow."

They snuck through the line. Draco crept up right behind Pansy and tickled her sides. Pansy shrieked in shock and lost her hold on the book as she flailed about.

"Draco!" she shouted, trying to defend herself. It wasn't easy. She'd been caught unawares, and he had good positioning. Harry picked up the book she'd dropped and was treated to the sight of a man with wavy blond hair and too-white teeth set in a perfect smile. The photograph winked at him and continued smiling. It was slightly unnerving.

Pansy broke free of Draco's grasp and hit him hard. "Hullo, Harry," she said, waving at him.

"Hello, Pansy," he replied. Poor Pansy's face was beet-red, and her hair was all askew. She took back her book from him.

"I can't. Believe. We get to meet him," she panted. "Famous. Dashing. Handsome."

Harry thought her reaction to be very funny indeed. Up at the front, the real Lockhart had just stepped into view. He flashed that dazzling smile and waved to the crowd. He was wearing robes in a shade of forget-me-not blue that perfectly matched his eyes. His pointed wizard's hat was fixed at a jaunty angle on his wavy hair.

A photographer was circling around Lockhart at a distance, shoving through the crowd, and taking pictures with a camera that let off foul purple smoke. "Stand aside, Daily Prophet," he said every few seconds. The crowd did its best to get out of his way.

Pansy sighed dreamily as Lockhart turned in their direction, and she fanned herself with the book. Draco poked her in the side, but she was on guard now and merely hit him with the book.

The sound of the heavy book hitting Draco's head must have caught Lockhart's ears, because his eyes suddenly focused in on them.

"It can't be _Harry Potter_," Lockhart said in an awed voice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Light and Dark Magic**

"Harry Potter!" Lockhart exclaimed, and he grabbed Harry's arm, dragging him to the front. Lockhart took Harry's hand and shook it vigorously as the photographer started snapping away. Harry groaned inwardly.

"Big smile now, Harry. Together, you and I rate the front page." Lockhart said all this while maintaining his perfect smile.

Harry didn't really understand that statement. He rated the front page all by himself, but there wasn't much time to ponder. He was too busy trying to extricate his hand from Lockhart's iron grip. When he finally let go, Harry could hardly feel his fingers. He tried to sidle off to the side, but Lockhart was having none of it. He put his arm around Harry's shoulders.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what an extraordinary moment this is," he said in a theatrical voice. Harry was reminded of when Tracy was giving one of her speeches.

"It strikes me," said Lockhart, "that this would be the perfect opportunity to make a little announcement that I've been keeping under wraps for some time now. You see, when Harry Potter stepped into Flourish and Blotts today to buy my autobiography, _Magical Me_, he had no idea, _no idea_," Lockhart repeated, "that he and his classmates would shortly be getting the _real _magical me."

The crowd buzzed for a moment over what Lockhart could mean. "Yes, good people, I'm very pleased to announce that come September I will be taking up the post of instructor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"

The crowd burst into applause. Lockhart let them cheer for a bit, then he waved his hands for quiet. "I present Harry with a copy of every one of my books, totally free of charge."

The ladies applauded again at this show of generosity. Harry found his arms suddenly full of glossy books, and he staggered under the weight. He carried the load over to where Draco and the others were waiting.

"Good show," Draco said to him. "Now you don't have to empty your tiny little vault."

Sadie rolled her eyes. It was still possible to notice her doing that if you peered at the eyeholes in her green face. It was still sad, seeing how her disfigured face tried to show different expressions, but still looked like a strange mask. "By the Darkness, give it a rest, Draco," she said.

Tracy had her arm round Sadie's shoulders. "Never miss a chance to save money," said Tracy. "Lockhart books are expensive."

Pansy had stepped away from them, moving forward in the queue to get her book signed. Tracy and Sadie entered the other queue to pay for their books. Leaving his own books and a fistful of galleons with the girls, Draco helped Harry shove through the crowd to the door. When he got outside, Harry took a deep breath of much-needed fresh air. It was well he enjoyed it, because his respite was not to last.

"I bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" Harry knew that voice. Obnoxious and insulting, it could only be Ron Weasley. Harry dropped the stack of Lockhart's books and turned to find Weasley sneering at him. A red-haired girl with a freckly face was standing next to him with a cauldron full of books and school supplies.

"Bet, Weasley?" Draco said in a mocking tone. "How can _you _bet on anything?"

Draco thought that taunts about money never wore thin.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Weasley snapped, not shifting his gaze. "Famous Harry Potter," he said in a disgusted voice. "He can't even go into a _bookshop _without making the front page."

"Jealous much?" Harry said coolly.

"Hardly," Weasley scorned. "You're entirely too full of yourself, do you know that?"

"Don't cause trouble, Ron," the girl said exasperatedly. "Leave him alone."

Draco laughed. "Look there, Potter," he drawled. "You've got yourself a _girlfriend! _"

The girl flushed to the roots of her flaming hair and looked at her feet.

"I told you to shut up, Malfoy!" Weasley seethed.

"Yes, and I ignored you," Draco retorted. "I'd like to continue ignoring you, but I find myself curious as to what you've been doing in a bookshop. Surely you're not _buying _anything."

Weasley was silent, but he glared daggers in Draco's direction. Draco stared back, neither willing to blink first. "Tell me, how long are your parents going to go hungry to pay for all those books?"

Weasley snarled and lunged for Draco's throat, but his sister grabbed onto his collar. "Let me go, Gin!" Weasley growled.

"Children, I hope you're playing nicely," came Mr. Malfoy's urbane voice as he glided closer, interrupting the impending confrontation.

His face an ugly red, Weasley muttered something unintelligible. He held his shaking hands at his sides. He stared impertinently, but even he was cowed by Mr. Malfoy's imposing demeanour.

"There you are, Ron," said an older balding man as he hurried up. "Ginny, good, you're here too."

"Well, well, well, Arthur Weasley," Mr. Malfoy said in that same superior manner.

Mr. Weasley made eye contact with Mr. Malfoy. "Lucius," he said. He sounded as though he'd eaten something that disagreed with him.

"Such a busy time at the Ministry," Mr. Malfoy said dryly. "All those raids. I _do _hope they're paying you overtime." He reached into the girl's cauldron and extracted a very old, very worn copy of _A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration _. He flipped it open and turned the pages distastefully.

"Obviously not." Closing the book with a sudden snap, he dropped it back in the cauldron. Mr. Malfoy looked down his nose at Mr. Weasley. "Tell me, Arthur, what's the use in being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"

Mr. Weasley's face flushed. "We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Lucius. Bribing Ministry officials? _Muggles _do stuff like that all the time."

Mr. Malfoy went pale. His hand twisted the handle of his cane, and suddenly he was pointing a wand at the other man! Mr. Weasley had his wand out a second later.

"Duelling in public, Lucius?" Mr. Weasley asked in astonishment. "Quite willing to flout the law, aren't you?"

"There is no Muggle filth around to see," Mr. Malfoy said through clenched teeth. "I will not stand here and be insulted by the likes of _you_."

"It makes me wonder what other laws you've broken," Mr. Weasley continued relentlessly. "Perhaps the Ministry needs to make a visit to _your _manor."

"A'right, gents, a'right, break it up!" boomed a loud voice. Hagrid the Half-Giant had appeared. He stepped between the two wizards. "No need fer drawin' wands an' castin' spells," Hagrid said firmly.

Mr. Malfoy glared at this interruption, but he _did _put his wand away, seeing the surrounding crowd for the first time. "Perhaps we could finish this another time," he suggested silkily.

Mr. Weasley's expression changed from anger to a beatific smile. "Certainly. Ron, Ginny, we're going."

Harry's enemy glared at him, but there was really nothing to be done. He helped his sister pick up her cauldron and carry it off. Hagrid watched them leave. Then he nodded to the Slytherins and walked away as well.

"You should have hexed him, Father," Draco said disappointedly.

"Silence, Draco," his father commanded.

The girls came out at that point. Sadie handed Draco a bag of his Lockhart books and Harry his Standard Book of Spells.

"Is everything alright?" asked Sadie, gazing at them through the eye holes in her mask.

"There is nothing amiss," said Lucius. "Nothing of note. If you all have your books, then I suggest we finish up your shopping. Draco, don't you need new robes?"

That was clearly an imperative. "Yes, I do," Draco answered. "The three of us do, actually. Where shall we meet you?"

"The Leaky Cauldron. Make sure not to dawdle."

"I will," Draco promised. "Er, I mean I won't. Or-"

"You _will _make sure not to dawdle," Mr. Malfoy corrected him. "Don't forget the Apothecary."

Tracy and Sadie spent a while kissing one another goodbye, then the trio went to the robe shop.

Madam Malkin was pleased to see them returning to her shop. Leaving her assistants to attend to Draco and Sadie, she waited on Harry herself, just as she had a year ago.

Draco grinned at Harry. "Now we've come full circle," he said.

Harry nodded. "It's been an interesting year," he commented.

Sadie clapped her little hands together, her green face lit up by her grin. "You two became friends exactly one year ago! That's so cool! The Darkness knew you were right for each another."

When their robes were finished, the trio stocked up on Potions ingredients at the Apothecary. Sadie dawdled, looking at the poisons and preserved organs. They had to drag her out.

"I'd soo love to go down Knockturn Alley," she said. "Isn't there interesting Dark Arts stuff down there?"

"We don't have time for that," said Draco.

A fresh supply of ink and parchment rounded out the shopping trip. Then they went back to the Leaky Cauldron.

They sat down with Mr. Malfoy, who had regained his good humour, and Mrs. Malfoy, who apologized for her own disappearing act. She had seen an old friend heading into Ollivander's and had spent several hours catching up.

Mr. Malfoy had taken the best table in the whole pub, and now he snapped his fingers for service. Several young men hurried over and began taking meal orders. When they had all ordered, Mr. Malfoy inquired after the trio's summer homework and how much of it they had left to do.

"Mine's all done," said Sadie brightly. "And I've been doing my own experiments with Dark Magic. The Darkness has blessed me with results."

Sadie often referred to Dark Magic as though it were an actual entity.

"Very good," said Lucius. "Boys?"

"Almost none," Draco assured his father. "Just a dratted essay for Quirrell. The idiot only got the History of Magic position last Summer, but he's already setting us homework."

"I hope he's alright," said Sadie anxiously. "After what he went through last year."

"Yeah, big deal, a foreigner put him under the Imperius Curse," said Draco with a sneer.

That was the official story Dumbledore had spun to cover up for Quirrell. That an evil foreign wizard put the Imperius Curse on him. Quirrell had in fact been possessed by Voldemort the previous year. Sadie had exorcised Voldemort with her Dark Magic. Quirrell survived, but he lost his magic powers as a side effect of Sadie's weird spell. Sadie and Harry were the only two students who knew the truth.

"History is very important, Draco," Mr. Malfoy said chidingly. "If we do not learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past."

He queried Harry with a glance. "I've started my Transfiguration," Harry answered. "I'm going to work on the rest of it when we get back."

Mr. Malfoy nodded. "That's good. If you need any help, I will be glad to advise you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Mister Potter?" It was a woman's voice coming from just over Harry's shoulder. He turned to see an older woman standing there. He knew her. She'd been a patron of the Leaky Cauldron when he'd first come here with Hagrid.

Sadie turned her green face to grin at the woman. Draco looked at her, raising an eyebrow over a cold grey eye.

"How are you, ma'am?" Harry asked politely. "Missus?"

"Crockford, sir, Doris Crockford. You may not remember me, but-"

"I remember you," Harry assured her. "You kept coming up to shake hands."

"Please forgive me, sir," Doris Crockford asked of him, shaking her head. "I was just so overwhelmed by meeting you. I hope you weren't too dreadfully embarrassed."

Harry smiled at her. "Not at all. It's good to see you again."

"Oh, aren't you a dear for saying so," she tittered. "I was wondering. What is your favourite kind of bickie? I'm going to be doing some baking tomorrow, and I'll make a batch especially for you."

Harry felt this was entirely excessive, but Tracy's message from earlier in the day echoed in his head: Never turn down anything free.

"Chocolate chip," he replied. He did like sweets, and if she went overboard, he could always share. He had six good friends in Slytherin after all.

Doris Crockford nodded in a satisfied manner. "I make a wonderful chocolate chip. I'll send them out, and you'll get them still hot."

"That would be very nice," Harry said to her. "Thank you so much."

"Thank _you _, Mister Potter." Doris Crockford shook his hand and went back to her table.

"She's so nice," said Sadie happily.

"Worth talking to her for the sweets," Draco observed. "I wouldn't mind chocolate chip myself."

Doris Crockford was not the only well-wisher to come up to Harry. Once she had broken the ice, as it were, others approached to tell Harry how thankful they were that he was alive and well. A tiny man wearing a violet top hat stepped closer, and Harry actually got to his feet.

"Mister Diggle!" he exclaimed.

Dedalus Diggle jumped in shock, and his top hat fell to the floor. Sadie bent down to pick it up as it rolled to a stop. She beamed as she held it out to the small man who replaced it on his head with trembling fingers.

"Mister Potter, you've quite honoured me," he said. "To remember me twice now, I'm quite overcome." He bowed quite deeply. "I merely wanted to pay my respects. If you ever need a friend, Dedalus Diggle is at your service."

Mr. Malfoy had something like a half sneer on his face as he watched Diggle depart. "Diggle," he said in a loaded tone. "A great fool if there ever was one."

"Nooo… He's adorable!" protested Sadie.

"He seems nice," Harry agreed. Diggle had bowed to him once in a shop even before Harry had known about the wizarding world or why he was so famous.

"He's an impractical fool," Mr. Malfoy reiterated. "Completely given over to ostentatious gestures. I wouldn't rely on him in any sort of meaningful capacity."

* * *

00O00

Harry and Sadie dropped in at Malfoy Manor for a short visit. Harry was struck anew by how impressive the Malfoy's entrance hall was. It put even the Hogwart's Entrance Hall to shame.

"Dobby!" said Lucius.

There was a crack and Dobby appeared. Harry glared at the elf, remembering how he had stolen Harry's letter.

"Take the bags!" snapped Lucius.

The elf bowed low. "Yes, sir. Dobby will do that, sir." With a loud crack, it vanished.

Harry decided to tackle the subject of Dobby right then and there. "Mr Malfoy, Sir… What does it mean if an elf has to punish himself?"

"A house elf is very attached to the family it serves," Mr. Malfoy said, sounding as though he were beginning a lecture. "When it commits an act that it knows will displease or anger its family, an elf feels compelled to punish itself."

Sadie narrowed her blue eyes as she gazed at Lucius through the holes in her mask.

"Even if it was an accident?" Harry asked. "Does the elf still punish himself?"

"Even if," Mr. Malfoy confirmed. "A deed done by accident is still done, is it not? You didn't intend to swallow the Snitch, but you still won the match, correct?"

Harry instantly flashed back to his first Quidditch match at Hogwarts. Though he hadn't intended to catch the Snitch in quite that fashion, he had indeed caught it. The technicalities of it didn't lessen the conclusion one bit.

"Yes, I suppose so," he said slowly.

"Most often the self-punishment involves bashing its head against the wall," Mr. Malfoy continued.

"Yeah, that's pretty funny," said Draco smirking.

Sadie's mask rippled as her features underneath moved to form a grimace. She folded her arms.

Lucius continued the lecture. "They have very hard heads, elves, so they repeat a few times. Then, punishment enacted, they continue on with their tasks.

"One thing to remember," he added. "Never ever give a house elf an article of clothing. Always drop it on the floor. If you ever give an elf clothes, it severs the magical connection between elf and family. There are elves who have killed themselves rather than be subjected to the humiliation of clothes."

"What?" Harry was startled.

Sadie put a hand to her green forehead and shifted on her tiny feet, looking very uncomfortable.

"Elves are so attached to their families," Mr. Malfoy repeated. "The giving of clothes is the ultimate punishment. An elf will gladly endure any other punishment you inflict upon it, even punish itself further, to avoid being given clothes."

"Of course that's all academic," Draco observed from the doorway. "Only a Malfoy could free one of our elves."

The notion of owning another living being was anathema to Harry. His face must have reflected his feelings, because Mr. Malfoy patted his shoulder.

"I know exactly what you're thinking, Harry. People don't own each other, but you must remember that elves are not human. Owning an elf is very similar to owning a dog or an owl. They are living creatures, are they not? They think; they communicate. They do tasks."

"But isn't slavery, well, wrong?" Harry felt a bit bold in asking this, but he felt comfortable enough with the Malfoys to speak his mind.

"Yes," said Sadie, nodding. "Harry is right. Elves feel and think..."

She never got to finish that sentence. Lucius sneered at her. He snapped his fingers, and an elf appeared. "Yes, master?" it asked, bowing.

"Nibby, the time has come for you to have clothes," he said simply.

Nothing could have prepared Harry for what happened next. The elf let out a keening wail so intense, Harry had to clap his hands to his ears. Nibby burst into tears, crying and shrieking and carrying on. He threw himself at Mr. Malfoy's feet and begged for mercy, for forgiveness, and for death.

"Death, Master!" he wept. "Death, not disgrace!"

Harry was considerably taken aback. They'd told him that elves lived to serve, but he hadn't truly believed them. Now he knew it was truth.

Sadie wrung her little hands together. "Mister Malfoy, please make it stop!" she blurted over the wailing.

"Can't quite hear," said Lucius.

Draco sniggered, pointing at the distraught elf.

The elf fell at Mr Malfoy's feet, screaming and flailing.

"I'm sorry for questioning you," said Sadie, tears coming to her blue eyes. "I – I wasn't thinking."

Mr. Malfoy smiled. "Very well, Nibby," he said, not looking down at the elf. "Return to your duties."

Nibby kissed his master's shoes several times. Then it disappeared without even getting up off the floor.

Sadie let out a long breath and covered her disfigured face with her hands.

"You see, Harry?" Mr. Malfoy asked.

"I see," Harry said. His ears were still ringing.

Sadie seemed chastened after having to watch that. She wasn't likely to raise the subject of elf rights with Mr Malfoy again in a hurry. But she was still eager to see the Malfoy's library. The trio filed into the old, oak panelled room. Tall book shelves towered around them. Sadie's blue eyes lit up as she spied a tome on a shelf high up, and she clambered up the steps of the ladder. She came staggering back down with a copy of a huge book, bound in faded black leather. There was a leering human skull depicted on the front. The title, Codex Mortis, was etched into the front cover.

"You have such a wonderful collection of Dark Magic books," Sadie told Draco, the corners of her mouth twitching to form a smile. "the Malfoy library must be the best in the world."

"Oh easily," said Draco, puffing himself up.

"I'd so love to borrow this," said Sadie. "So I can show how smart the Malfoys are at collecting Dark books. There are people who might not believe me if I just told them."

"Really?" said Draco, narrowing his ice-grey eyes. "Well you'd better borrow it then."

Harry was puzzled. Why did Sadie really want the Codex Mortis?


	3. Chapter 3

**Platform 9 ¾**

Sadie and Harry sat up in Sadie's room that evening, munching on a bowl of popcorn and mustard.

Chip, the strange purple homunculus sat on Sadie's bed post. He made an unintelligible noise. He made a weird, burbling noise.

"Aw, Chip," said Sadie. She fed the strange thing a piece of popcorn, then opened out the Codex Mortis. "Ah, OK…" she murmured. "This looks tricky…"

"What is that old book?" said Harry.

"Necromancy!" she said, her green face splitting in a wide grin. "Communing with the dead with Dark Magic."

"Um… What for?" said Harry.

Harry had had a real mother, so didn't feel the neurotic need to have Lily and James back.

"To bring them back," said Sadie. She held up a silver serpent bracelet. "You know what this is?"

"The serpent of Slytherin?" Harry guessed.

"Well yes, but it predates Slytherin. It's a talisman that shows I follow Asclepius. The original Dark Healer."

"You're the only Dark Healer," said Harry. "It can be what they call you. Like I'm the Boy Who Lived. My title's better. Quirkier."

She smiled at him. "I like the Boy Who Lived too. It's cute and … and it gives me hope. Like you."

"You're supposed to disagree and say 'Dark Healer's' a better title," said Harry.

"Oh?" Sadie cupped her green face in her hands. "Why'd I say that?"

"So, I can persuade you," said Harry.

"There's no need, cos I like both titles."

"I can make you agree with me, like this," said Harry. He immediately began to tickle her so that she yelled and screamed with laughter, flailing her little thin arms. Harry personally wouldn't have risked tickling any of the other Slytherin girls. Pansy would have likely walloped him harder than she did Draco. But Sadie was very good tempered. When he let her up, she gripped him tight, breathing heavily. Her purple hair was all dishevelled.

"Why'd you come at me? I agreed with you." He could feel her heart beating fast. She nuzzled his neck with her cold, green face.

Chip gave a strange cry at that moment. Sadie relinquished Harry and scooped Chip up in her arms and rocked him. "Mummy's silly, isn't she," she cooed to the strange little purple thing. "Who's my little bitty baby revenant?" She tickled Chip's round stomach. Her blue eyes looked kind of misty through the eye holes of her mask.

Holding Chip in the crook of her arm, Sadie put her other arm around Harry. "Look, Chip. Harry. He's our special friend. We love him. I think he's my only friend who loves everyone, like I do."

That was nice. Harry felt warm and fuzzy inside.

"Lullaby!" said Sadie. She began to sing. She had a high voice, not quite in tune:

"_Hush Child, the Darkness will rise from the deep and carry you down to sleep…"_

The lyrics were off-beat. Not much like a lullaby at all. But Sadie's presence was so soothing, that Harry felt himself getting sleepy with her arm around him. When she finished the lullaby he jerked awake suddenly. It was dark outside. He was sharing a spare bedroom with his mother and she would be waiting for him now. He looked blearily at Sadie, who gazed back at him with a dreamy look in her blue eyes.

"Better get to Mum's room. She'll be wondering where I am."

Sadie kissed him on the cheek with the cold lips of her mask. "May your dreams be dark, my love."

* * *

00O00

The next morning was Harry's birthday. Harry was awakened early by Sadie's disfigured green face close to his. "Happy Birthday!" She grinned and thrust a tray with a bowl of porridge and treacle at him. She had thoughtfully brought Cora a bowl of raw liver as well.

She was impatient to lead him to the foyer where a stack of presents had been artfully arranged.

"How nice your friends have such good friends now," said Cora, although her smile looked slightly sad. "I never could afford great gifts like these."

A present floated up by Harry's head, directed by Sadie, waving her dragon heart-string wand. He grabbed it with a small smile to match her broad one.

The present turned out to be from Narcissa and Lucius. It was a pair of goggles - the kind a lot of professional Qudditch players used.

"Brilliant," Harry declared.

From Tracy, Daphne and Millie, he got a few items wrapped together - a broom polishing kit, _Quidditch Throughout the Ages_, and _Dangerous and Fun Tricks for Seekers_. He grinned and resolved to thank them publicly once they got back to Hogwarts. Pansy had sent a box of coconut kisses and Theo some new quills. Kind of them to think of him.

The next present was from Sadie. At first glance it was a silver locket, with a serpent symbol on it. He glanced at Sadie to thank her, but she beat him to it. "It's a memory locket. You can put a memory in it, and then watch it, like a Pensieve." She had mentioned Pensieves to him in passing before, though Harry hadn't been clear what they were. "There isn't a memory in there yet - You can choose whichever one you want.

Harry blinked at her, and then nodded slowly, a smile spreading across his face. "D'you mind if I don't choose just yet? I have to decide which memory."

"Take your time," she said beaming. "Perhaps you can decide when we're at Hogwarts."

"Thanks, Sadie." Her smile increased even more.

His mother had got him a copy of _250 Tricky Potions: For Those Who Love a Challenge_. Warmth settled in Harry's chest as he traced the cover.

"You're growing up so fast, my love," said Cora. "Every year I made you a toy. Now you need something more practical."

Harry hugged and kissed her in thanks.

Jamie, Sadie's mother, was busy at St Mungo's for most of that day, but Harry was perfectly content to spend the time with his own mother and with Sadie.

* * *

00O00

Cora went back to Hogwarts shortly before term started, to help with cleaning the castle in preparation for the arrival of the student body.

Harry and Sadie were going back on the Hogwarts Express. Sadie couldn't easily go out in public in the Muggle world with her disfigurement, so they flooed to a magical nexus near Kings Cross Station.

Sadie dressed up in a coat with a heavy hood, Chip strapped to her in something that looked like a strange, black baby carrier with silver lining.

"He'll be strong enough for Floo now," she said.

Harry wasn't sure he was. This journey to London wasn't easier than the previous one. "Urp!" he said, feeling his stomach lurch. He closed his eyes again.

"Easy now, Harry, you made it."

He let Sadie lead him out of the fireplace, dragging his trunk behind him.

"Deep breaths now..."

She thrust a glass into his hand. He drank and tasted cold water. His stomach stopped churning. He felt well enough to open his eyes.

Sadie was peering at him intently through the eyeholes in her mask. She held up her little pink hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked.

"Three."

She smiled and touched his cheek. "There now, you've got through it again. Journeys from Scotland to London are rough, aren't they?"

They were in a little sweet shop, it seemed, but there were only two racks of sweets. The walls were blank. It looked like they were still in the process of setting up - or taking down. A large fireplace dominated the rear wall.

"One Galleon, Miss McIntyre," a wizard standing behind the counter said. Sadie pulled a coin out of her pocket and handed it to the attendant.

Sadie pulled her hood down to cover her disfigured face and linked arms with Harry. Harry allowed himself to be led out of the door. He blinked a bit in the sunlight.

"This way to the station," murmured Sadie. As they walked down the street, Harry was a bit spooked by being out in Muggle London again. Nobody recognized him, seeing only a boy and a tiny girl with her face covered, pulling school trunks towards the station. They hadn't carried Hedwig with them. She could fly from Hillside House to Hogwarts.

The station was busy with people going here, people going there. Muggles rushed every which way without a glance at anyone else. They made their way to the barrier near platforms 9 and 10.

Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous September. It didn't leave from any normal platform. The train to school left from platform nine and three-quarters, a magical place only accessible by passing through the barrier.

Sadie held his hand for which he was grateful. Two steps away, he closed his eyes tightly. Magic was all well and good, but the human brain has difficulty accepting that you are running full speed at a brick wall. He didn't even notice when he pierced the barrier. When he had taken several more steps, he opened his eyes and saw the bright and shining train.

Sadie gave a sigh and threw back her hood.

The platform was a chaotic mob of children, parents, pets, and luggage. They climbed on board the Hogwarts Express and lugged their trunks to midway down the length of the train before finding Pansy. Then Daphne hurried up to meet them.

" _Here _you are!" exclaimed Daphne, dropping her trunk with a thud. She grabbed Harry's hand. "Good to see you!" She grabbed Sadie's hand. "Good to see you!"

"Daphne, are you all right?" Sadie asked.

"She's a little loopy, but what's new?" said Pansy, sticking out her tongue.

"Hi Pansy!" Daphne grabbed her hand as well. " _Good _to see you!"

"Daphne, what's the matter with you?" Harry asked. His prissy friend was speaking very quickly and zipping around a bit.

"I'm _happy! _" she exclaimed, bouncing in place. "September is finally here, and we can learn more about magic!"

"I think she just had too much sugar this morning," Theo observed, dragging his trunk into the compartment.

"Theo! Good to see you!"

"Hi Daphne," he said, giving her a quick hug. "Did you sneak a cup of coffee this morning?"

"No," she denied instantly. "Well, yes, but only a small one."

"How many times did you refill it?" he teased her. "Must have been a dozen or so."

"Only three!" Daphne defended.

"Oh dear," he sighed. He looked at Harry. "Daphne likes to have a cup of coffee on occasion, but she really doesn't deal with the caffeine very well, you see. She also _really _likes the taste of coffee, so she goes overboard when she does have it. The result is what you see before you: a hyperactive Bludger pretending to be a girl."

Daphne giggled and threw herself into his arms. "You're so nice, Teddy," she said, making cute faces at him.

Theo rolled his eyes. "Don't call me Teddy," he sighed.

Tracy arrived next, then Millie, Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. The now second year Slytherins were split into two compartments, and they wandered from one to the other freely. As the train whistle blew, Harry felt excitement clench his heart. He was finally going back to Hogwarts!

The other boys had grown taller over the summer. Draco was now equal to Harry's height. Theo had always stood an inch or so above them both. Crabbe and Goyle were as big as ever, standing half a head over Theo. Millie had grown right along with the boys, standing just below Harry.

Pansy was not much taller, but she was sporting a new hairstyle that made her seem taller. Pansy's braids were twined together and tucked up at the back of her head because of the summer heat. Daphne was bouncing around so much that Harry couldn't tell how tall she was. Tracy hadn't grown much, but she was still a lot bigger than Sadie. The smaller girl was able to sit on Tracy's knee with Chip. Tracy kissed the top of Sadie's purple head.

There was a bit to catch up on, as they hadn't seen each other in a week and a half. They made small talk and played card games until the old witch with the trolley came along.

"Anything off the cart, dears?" she asked kindly.

"I'll take a copy of the Prophet," Theo said, handing the witch a few Knuts. He sat back and opened it up. The other Slytherins raided the cart for Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, and Sugar Quills.

"Don't forget the Chocolate Frogs," Harry said, taking a stack for himself. Hopefully there would be some new cards he could find.

"Wow, Draco, your dad's really got a vendetta against Weasley's father, doesn't he?" Theo said, his head buried in the newspaper.

"Huh?" Draco asked, confused. They'd been talking about Quidditch.

"Talking about disbanding the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office?" Theo looked up and saw a bunch of blank faces. He rolled his eyes. "Oh _honestly_, don't any of you read?" He folded back the paper and thrust it out at them.

"If they really eliminate the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, that means Weasley's dad is going to be out of a job," Theo told them. "What a delight. Perhaps they won't be able to continue at Hogwarts."

"Let's go see how he's handling the news, shall we?" Draco said, handing the paper back to Theo and getting to his feet. "It's a time to gloat if there ever was one!"

"No! You shouldn't be rubbing his face in it," said Sadie. "Can't you see that's being as bad as he is?"

"Hush, Sadie, it's all in good fun," said Tracy.

"Sounds like fun, indeed," Daphne said, bounding to her feet.

Pansy grabbed a handful of the girl's shirt. "Oh no, missy, you're staying here where we can keep an eye on you. The last thing we need is for you to bounce up to Weasley and tell him it's good to see him."

"If she wants to go, let her go, Pansy," Theo said scathingly.

"Don't tell me what to do, Nott," she retorted.

"So, you can tell Daphne that she can't go, but I can't tell you what not to do?"

"Exactly."

Draco ducked as Theo threw a cauldron cake at Pansy. Chaos began to ensue.

The door of the compartment opened, and a Slytherin Seventh Year girl walked in. It was Morgana Black. She had been a prefect last year, but now she had the silver Head Girl badge pinned to her Hogwarts robes. She had long, black hair and hooded eyes with a staring expression.

"What's going on here?" Her voice was soft, but the second years found her intimidating enough that they shut up at once.

Except Draco.

"I was just going to poke Weasley in the nose," he said airily. "His father might be losing his job you see. Time to gloat."

Sadie's mask of a face rippled as her features moved to form a grimace.

"And you want to start a brawl with the Gryffindors before terms even started?" said Morgana softly. "I don't think so. Behave yourself Malfoy, that's an order."

"The Weasleys are Muggle-lovers," said Draco petulantly. "That's disgraceful."

"I like Muggles just fine," said Morgana, her voice distinctly cool. Draco shrank back from her gaze.

"Muggles are fun to observe up close," said Morgana. "I've been on my Internship at the Ministry. I want to be an Obliviator. Now kids, if you have so much pent up aggression, it might be an idea to get a Duelling Club started. Hope the Headmaster will approve it."

Morgana left, closing the door behind her.

Sadie broke the silence. "She's right. Fighting's plain stupid."

"That's the sort of plain stupid thing you would say," said Draco sullenly.

"Draco! Manners!" scolded Tracy. "Morgana's right. You've got too much pent up aggression. Like a Gryffindor."

Draco was going to make an irritated retort, so Sadie spoke rather hastily. "Who wants to talk about something sensible? Like the Necromantic arts?"

"Noo," said Draco. "You've got too much pent up urge to bore me to tears talking about Necromancy."

Sadie blinked and looked at the floor, but the other Slytherins laughed. That seemed to break the ice, and normal conversation resumed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Dark Healer and Mentor**

"Wotcher, Slytherins!" Terry Boot had accepted an invitation to visit the Slytherin compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"Wotcher, Ravenclaw," Theo responded, looking up from the _Prophet _.

Sadie grinned at him. "How are you?"

"Terry!" Daphne cried with delight, bounding to her feet, and hugging the startled boy. "Good to see you!"

"Hi, Daphne." Terry hesitantly hugged her back. He sounded confused and looked askance at the rest of them. "Did someone hit her with a Cheering Charm? Isn't that third-year magic?"

"Nooo, she just can't take her coffee," Tracy told him, laughing. She grabbed onto Daphne's blouse and tugged the girl to her seat. "Sit _down! _"

"Theo, you're the only one here who reads. What do you think of the Act?" Terry asked, sitting down. Harry moved closer to hear better.

"Hey, I read!" Tracy protested.

"Me too," said Sadie from Tracy's lap, where she was sitting holding Chip and looking like a disfigured ventriloquist dummy holding a smaller dummy. Tracy stroked Sadie's purple hair.

"Yeah, but Tracy only reads dictionaries, and Sadie only reads creepy Dark Arts mumbo jumbo" Draco chuckled.

"Prat," Tracy sniffed.

"The Act may pass," Theo said, answering Terry's question and ignoring the others. "Any scheme that says it will save Galleons does have a chance of being passed. There won't be any huge savings made by cutting those offices though."

"So, they've closed the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. What other offices have been closed?" Harry asked curiously.

"They haven't been closed yet," Theo reminded them all. "It's still only a proposed budget and reorganization bill. It needs to go through committee, and then the Minister still needs to sign it into law."

"That's not the point, you great pillock," Pansy sneered at him.

Theo glared at Pansy. "They may be putting the axe to the Committee for the Disposal for Dangerous Creatures."

"Good thing too if you ask me," said Sadie. "They don't have to kill the creatures. They could just contain them."

"No one asked for your crackpot opinion," Draco told her.

Sadie stared at him, a bit perplexed.

"Stop being a prat, Draco," said Tracy.

"And they may cut the Committee on Experimental Charms," concluded Theo.

"What's that?" Harry asked.

"It's an office run by wizards who like to give themselves horns and bat wings," Draco smirked.

"Any wizard who creates a new Charm is obliged to register with the Committee and tell them exactly what the magic is supposed to do," Terry said, shaking his head. "The very idea of all new magical skills having to be approved and registered by the government is stupid to begin with," he said critically. "They're fools if they think anyone besides Professor McGonagall obeys that law."

"Of course," Theo said. "Which is probably why they'd like to close it. They know it serves no real function other than to provide relatives of Ministry Officials with jobs."

"The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office is just as useless," Draco chimed in. "If a wizard wants a flying carpet, I don't see why he shouldn't have one."

Theo nodded. "Carpets are considered to be Muggle-ish, so the law says no enchanting. As if Muggles are the only ones who use carpets!"

"We've got a flying carpet," Draco bragged. "Father keeps it in storage most of the time, but on the first night of holiday he brought me out for a flight."

"You're lucky you weren't seen," Tracy told him.

"Actually, we did get seen once," Draco admitted. "We heard a shout from the ground, and Father had to put a Memory Charm on a Muggle."

"Oh, Darkness," muttered Sadie.

"Just a Memory Charm?" Pansy said with disappointment.

Sadie's mask rippled and creased as she frowned at Pansy.

Theo patted her on the head. "Poor ickle Pansy. No stories of bloodshed for you today."

Pansy snarled and pushed his hand away. Terry stood up and said his goodbyes, promising to come say hello at the feast. Harry looked out the window. The open pastures were beginning to give way to trees and forests. They must be nearly at Hogwarts.

"Shouldn't we change into our robes?" he suggested. He felt his face start to burn as Pansy started unbuttoning her shirt. Grabbing his school uniform, he fled to the next compartment. Crabbe and Goyle were sitting there, talking with Millie.

"Hi, Harry, good to see you," said Millie grinning at him.

Harry held up his robes. "Just here to change, really," he said. Millie ruffled Harry's hair as she left the compartment to give him some privacy.

After putting on his robes, he joined his friends for a few hands of Exploding, and they were just about to start a new game when the door slid open.

"There you are, Potter!" exclaimed Marcus Flint, captain of the house Quidditch team.

"Hullo, Flint," Harry greeted him. "How was your holiday?"

"I threw myself into devising new strategies for this season. Hey, you two!"

Crabbe looked up. "Eh?"

"Us?" echoed Goyle.

"Yeah," Flint said, giving them a critical eye. "Have you ever thought of going out for the Quidditch team?"

"Eh?"

"Us?"

Leaving Flint to try to recruit his big friends, Harry was about to return to the other compartment when he saw Jess, one of Slytherin's prefects and now a sixth year student. He'd always liked Jess, with her easy way of smiling and her friendly, open manner.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "You look well."

A hidden speaker crackled to life, announcing, "The Hogwarts Express will be arriving at Hogsmeade station in one minute. Please gather all your belongings and prepare to deboard the train. Please do not attempt to leave the train until instructed. Please leave your school trunks; they will be taken up to the castle separately."

"Oops," Jess said. "I need to go to work."

"Bye!" Harry hugged his prefect.

The train came to life suddenly, as all the students began hustling about, returning to their own compartments, picking up belongings, pets, and younger siblings. Harry saw several older students keeping close tabs on smaller versions of themselves. Millie had a younger brother who was starting Hogwarts this year, Harry remembered, named Arthur. He fell in step with her and asked where the younger Bulstrode was.

Millie rolled her eyes. "With his cool friends, as opposed to his very not-cool sister and her weird friends."

Sadie looked self-conscious as she touched her mask.

"I wouldn't say we're all weird," Pansy protested.

"I agree," Theo said. "Only Pansy is weird."

Pansy thumped him.

When the train finally shuddered to a stop, there was a great scramble to get outside. Owls hooted, cats meowed, and Longbottom's pet toad could be heard croaking loudly. The evening air was chilly, and Harry pulled his cloak shut against the night.

"Firs' years this way!" The bellowing voice could only have belonged to Hagrid, the half-giant gamekeeper.

"All righ', Harry? Sadie?" he boomed. He disregarded the other Slytherins.

Sadie grinned and waved at him. Harry waved for a second, then followed the rest of the school as the first year students gathered around Hagrid in preparation for the traditional journey across the lake. They made their way down off the platform and onto a rough, muddy road where the stagecoaches awaited them. When they had climbed inside and shut the door, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying in procession without benefit of a horse to pull it!

Harry, Draco, Tracy and Sadie got a carriage to themselves. Harry wondered who his second best friend was, after Sadie. He appreciated both Draco and Tracy a great deal.

Sadie cradled Chip in her arms and cooed to him. Then she put a little potion flask to the strange thing's slit of a mouth.

"You're really weird, you know that?" Draco told her.

Sadie just gave a small smile in return.

"Shush!" Tracy scolded Draco. "Um… Chip's a … cute little thing."

It was obvious that Tracy didn't know quite what to make of Chip!

As the carriage trundled toward a pair of magnificent wrought iron gates, flanked with stone columns topped with winged boars, Harry was once again impressed with the sheer majesty of the Hogwarts castle. The carriage picked up speed on the long, sloping drive. Looking out the tiny windows, they could see the many turrets and towers draw nearer. At last, the carriage swayed to a halt, and Harry hurried to get a breath of air that didn't stink of mould and straw.

The students trundled up the stone steps that led up to the front doors of the castle. Heavy, giant, oak; the doors opened into the cavernous entrance hall, lit with flaming torches. The magnificent marble staircase rose into the air, leading the way to the upper floors.

Harry followed the swarm into the Great Hall. It was its usual splendid self, decorated for the start-of-term feast. Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in mid-air. The sky above, seen via the enchanted ceiling of the Hall, was clear and bright. Stars twinkled merrily in the black dome of the night. The four long House tables were slowly being filled by the arriving students. At the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils.

At the end of the table, next to the very large empty chair that belonged to Hagrid, sat Professor Kettleburn, instructor for Care of Magical Creatures. Fresh bandages were wrapped around his hands. Tiny little Professor Flitwick, the instructor for Charms and Head of Ravenclaw House, was sitting on a large pile of cushions beside Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House, whose hat was askew over her flyaway grey hair. Professor Quirrell, now History of Magic teacher was there, looking somewhat recovered from the events of last year. Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy witch, was looking bright-eyed and perky. As a confessed night owl, she had probably been awake for only a few hours. Next to her, Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin House and Potions Master, sat looking grumpy. Snape had an empty chair next to him, presumably belonging to Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration Mistress and Head of Gryffindor House.

In the centre of the table sat Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, his silver hair and beard shining in the candlelight. The blue robes he wore were decorated with stars and moons. Further on sat Professor Vector, the witch who taught Arithmancy, Professor Babbling, the witch who taught Ancient Runes, and Professor Burbage, the witch who taught Muggle Studies. Those were all subjects older students could take. In the Spring, they would have to pick two additional classes to take in their third year.

Professor Lockhart sat there with his perfectly waved blond hair, his perfectly white smile, and his perfectly silly aquamarine robes and pointed hat. Harry turned his head to avoid making eye contact.

The rest of the staff sat along the table: Madam Pomfrey, the nurse; Madam Pince, the librarian; and Madam Hooch, the Quidditch instructor. Mr. Filch, or Cora, would be waiting around to mop the floor after the first years came through making a mess.

Harry exchanged many greetings as his fellow Slytherins came by to say hello. The rest of the Quidditch team, Bletchley, Bole, Derrick, Pucey, and Montague, all came by to say 'hi.'

He tried to ignore his stomach, which was grumbling to be filled.

A side door opened at that moment, and Hagrid took his seat at the table. Professor Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction.

"Ah, Hagrid. I trust the first-year students are ready outside?" he asked genially.

"Yessir, Professor Dumbledore!" Hagrid answered.

"Excellent."

The doors to the Great Hall opened, and Professor McGonagall led the pack of first years inside. The long line of starry-eyed children looked anxious, nervous, and excited as they walked up to the front and stood before the High Table. Professor McGonagall brought over the Hogwarts Sorting Hat and the four-legged stool upon which it sat. Dirty, tattered, frayed, and patched, the Hat decided which House a student would belong to. It also directed the Hogwarts School Choir. The whole Hall watched eagerly, waiting for the Hat as a tear opened up, and it began to sing.

The Sorting Hat Songs were never exactly masterpieces, but Harry wasn't about to criticise them. It was wonderful that a hat could sing at all.

The entire Hall burst into applause. Professor McGonagall took out a scroll and unrolled it.

"Bulstrode, Arthur!"

The younger Bulstrode looked a lot like his older sister. He didn't seem at all nervous as he put the Hat on his head and sat down. After only a few seconds, the tear in the Hat opened up and cried out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Millie led the cheering as Arthur made his way to the Slytherin table. He sat down and grinned at all those who congratulated him.

"Creevey, Colin!"

"Already with the Mudbloods?" Pansy whispered. "Look, he's scared out of his tiny mind. Never seen magic before."

"Don't be so mean," snapped Sadie, her masked face crinkling into a scowl. "Have you forgotten everything we learned in the Hogwarts Togetherness Club last year?"

"Yeah, Pansy," said Theo poking her. "You're so slow on the uptake."

While Theo and Pansy scuffled, the very small, mousy-haired boy stepped forward. Nervously, he picked up the Hat, pulled it on, and sat down.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Dipippo, Vanessa!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Dix, Nancy!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The cheering from the Gryffindor table was riotous as three new students in a row joined them. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs looked a bit put out.

"Someone needs to make sure those Gryffindors don't get too uppity," muttered Eleanor Weiss, a seventh year sitting nearby.

"Driverson, Gerald!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

As their first new student was announced, the Hufflepuffs exploded with applause. The black-haired boy sat down as Professor McGonagall announced, "Fontaine, Megan!" a brown-haired girl with a ponytail who became the first new Ravenclaw.

The Sorting continued without incident through Brooke Gagnon (Gryffindor), Candace Gallagher (Hufflepuff), and Darryl Gauthier (Gryffindor), but when Jeremiah Goodwinter was announced, many of those sitting near Harry suddenly perked up. "What is it?" he asked Draco.

"Goodwinter is one of the old family names," Draco told him. "I didn't realize there were any Goodwinters coming in this year."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Holt, Michelle!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Cheers rose as the first new girl joined Slytherin's table.

"Ilnicky, Charles!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Wendy Ingram, Judith Kovalsick, and Luna Lovegood became Ravenclaws. Christopher Lewis was deemed a Hufflepuff.

"Massé, Omar!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"That's a new name," Theo whispered. "Sounds Spanish."

Draco shrugged. "Good for him."

Ravenclaw and Slytherin continued alternating between Jamie Morello, Sarrah Nolan, Patrick O'Rourke, Shawna Osman, and Westley Overton. The next firstie called was Melissa Padhye, another name that elicited interest. Draco bet Theo a Galleon that she'd be in Ravenclaw, while Theo erroneously believed Slytherin. Draco won the bet as she went to Ravenclaw, followed by Susan Robillard, sorted to Gryffindor. Conrad Rohmann and Gwendolyn Roit became Hufflepuffs, then Myles Sheridan went to Gryffindor, prompting deafening cheers. Draco nudged Harry. "Long tradition with that family."

"Shilvock, Thelma!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Slater, Leo!" McGonagall said. A pretty girl with the triple prettiness combo of shoulder-length auburn hair, green eyes and a freckled face stepped forward. The Hat announced her as a Slytherin.

"Slater, Lucas!"

Harry did a double-take. The same girl was walking forward to sit on the stool. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Déjà vu."

"The Slater twins," Tracy said, nodding. "Boy and girl, though you'd think they were identical. Poor Lucas needs a haircut, but his parents are so anachronistic they won't allow it."

"He's so adorable," said Sadie, clasping her little hands together.

The unfortunate Mr. Slater also was named a Slytherin.

"Smith, Zacharias!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Sunderland, Joshua!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Weasley, Ginevra!"

Harry was amused by her name. He'd thought it was Virginia.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Eugene Williams was the last student. Another Gryffindor.

As Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Hat and stool away, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. He spread his arms wide. "A word – Eat."

The golden plates and platters suddenly filled with food. Harry dug in gratefully. The Sorting was very important, yes, but he was a growing boy. He came very close to stuffing himself to the bursting point. During the feast, Terry Boot and Padma Patil stopped by to say hello. They stayed through afters when the headmaster rose to his feet again.

"Before we retire for the night, I have a few notices to give out. Firstly, welcome to our new instructor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Gilderoy Lockhart."

Half the Hall started clapping. Harry didn't bother. Lockhart came across as a vain fool. Up at the High Table, Lockhart was smiling his perfect smile and waving to the students.

"The forest on the school grounds is considered out-of-bounds to all students," Dumbledore continued. "Use of magic in the corridors when passing between classes is frowned upon. Quidditch trials will take place in the second week of term. Anyone interested in earning a place on their house team should see Madam Hooch."

Harry couldn't wait for Quidditch season to start.

Harry and his friends walked out of the Hall and down the stone stairs that led into the dungeons. Harry felt he could have walked the route blindfolded.

"Abaddon," Tracy said. She was not magically pulling the password out of thin air; it had been circulated during pudding. The wall slid back, opening the way into Slytherin House.

The common room was a pleasant place, long, low underground room. Polished stone steps led down to the recessed floor, carpeted in a rich green with silver designs. The walls and ceiling were rough-hewn stone. Lamps hung on chains from the ceiling, giving off a cosy greenish light. A fire was crackling cheerfully under an elaborately carved mantelpiece in the centre of the long wall. Beanbags were scattered before the fire grate. Several high-backed chairs surrounded each of the tables that were evenly distributed throughout the room. There were two doors at the far end of the room. Bookshelves lined the walls. But most remarkable of all were the windows through which the murky depths of the lake could be seen. Fish flitted past the windows in silver shoals, and the shadow of the giant squid could be seen in the distance.

The second years saw Professor Snape talking to the small crowd of new first years, just as he had to them the previous year. Morgana was there.

"Now Morgana, the Head Girl, has suggested a mentoring program. New students can be assigned to an older student who volunteers to mentor them. I consider this to be a worthwhile idea."

"Who'd be daft enough to volunteer for that?" muttered Pansy, as Draco sniggered.

Sadie stepped forward, her green face illuminated by her grin. She looked even weirder in the greenish light of the common room, almost ghostly. Chip was strapped to her chest with the little baby carrier. The first years stared at her, wide-eyed.

"I volunteer, Professor," said Sadie. "I wanna mentor someone."

Snape turned to her, his fathomless black eyes boring into hers. "You are only a second year McIntyre, and of all your peers, you've had the most misadventures and mishaps. I can hardly appoint you for such a responsible position."

"Yeah, Sadie. You're always having misadventures," said Pansy smirking. Tracy dug her in the ribs.

Sadie blinked. "Oh. Yes sir."

Pansy stifled a smirk with one hand. Sadie went off to sit on one of the carved chairs, and Tracy and Harry hurried after her.

Sadie was sitting on a carved chair, her skinny arms folded around Chip.

"It's alright, dear," said Tracy, touching Sadie's green cheek.

"I wanted to look after a new kid," mumbled Sadie, her high voice quivering. "I – I already had plans about how I could make a little boy or girl feel at home here."

"Well… mentoring isn't everything," said Harry.

At that moment, they heard the sounds of footfalls on the stone floor, and Lucas Slater came up to them, the lamplight casting a greenish tinge on his pale, freckly face.

"I would be your mentor, Sadie. Uh – I mean, I want you to be my mentor."

Sadie's face was immediately lit up by her grin. "You do?" She jumped up and hugged Lucas, Chip sort of getting caught up in the middle of the hug. "Thank you, thank you," said Sadie. "Just wait. We're gonna have fun together. I'll show you how this place works. You get to meet all my amazing friends. I'll see you're never homesick. I'll hold your hand tonight, in case you are."

"Um…" said Lucas.

Sadie touched his arm with a little hand. "First, I'll draw you a welcome to Hogwarts picture. I'll do it right away. There'll be a desk in your dorm."

Harry wondered why Lucas specifically wanted Sadie to mentor him. There was no doubt that Sadie was enthusiastic about it. Maybe that was why.

Harry hugged Tracy goodnight, and also Daphne, who was still perky, bouncy, and happy and sprung into his arms. Sadie spent a little while hugging and kissing Tracy goodnight, then she followed the first and second year boys as they traipsed to the door on the right that opened into the inverted tower, leading down to their dorm rooms.

There was a system whereby the second years still had the same dorm as they did the previous year, right at the very bottom. The new first years had a dorm room above them. When they were level with it, Sadie hugged and kissed Harry goodnight, then she took Lucas by the hand and went into the dorm room with the crowd of first year boys.

Harry, Draco and the rest continued to the very bottom of the inverted tower.

"Home," Harry sighed happily. The silver plaque on the dorm door now read 'Second Years'. Inside they found their four-poster beds, dressers, desks, and trunks. It seemed as though nothing had changed over the summer holiday. Well-fed and sleepy, Harry wanted nothing more than to slide between the sheets of his own bed. He yawned a goodnight and as his head touched the pillow and he was out like a snuffed candle flame.


	5. Chapter 5

**Dark Arts and Detentions**

Lucas was a bit put out by Sadie accompanying him to the dorm, clutching his hand. Surely she didn't think mentoring was a 24 hour thing?

She was shorter than he was. She turned up her shiny green mask of a face to grin at him. "You'll love it here. I promise. Hogwarts is an amazing place. And you've always got me to help you."

The boys all filed into the dorm and surrounded them, staring at Sadie as if they couldn't quite take her in; her mask-like face, her doll like form, that ugly purple creature she carried in a sling…

She beamed round at them. "Welcome to Slytherin House, guys. We look out for each other here."

"Can girls just wonder into the dorms at any time?" said Omar Massé.

"Um, yes… But you can't visit the girls' dorms." Sadie seemed a little flustered for a second and twirled a strand of her purple hair in her little fingers. Then she forced herself to smile with the lips of her mask. "Uh… I recommend banding together to help each other with homework like our year group does. There's lots to learn. Wish we actually studied the Dark Arts though, I've had to teach myself."

"You taught yourself the Dark Arts?" said Jeremiah Goodwinter. "Can't you show us?"

"Dunno if showing's a good idea," said Sadie. "But I can tell you Professor Snape wrote something interesting. The Darkness is constantly mutating and changing. That's the only really good description anyone here has ever come up with. The Gryffindors just call stuff 'Dark' if they disapprove of it, so date rape potions don't count as dark in books about Gryffindors. But look…"

She held up her wand, and suddenly a bunch of flowers with globular, bone white buds erupted forth. Then the buds burst open into screaming mouths, with mouths ringed with fangs. Lucas jumped at the sudden noise. The other first years took a step backwards as the plants snapped at them.

"Aren't they cute?" said Sadie happily. "See? A distortion of nature? That's Dark. Like Snape wrote. It's about changing."

"_Give us meeaaat_!" wailed the plants in a chorus of eerie voices. "_Give us bleeding hearts!_"

"Awww…" said Sadie. "They're hungry. Don't take them so seriously, guys. I've got a hold on them."

The boys kept their distance from the plants nonetheless.

* * *

00O00

Lucas was disconcerted by Sadie hanging around when he was ready for bed. The other guys were inclined to look at her with more respect now, and less likely to taunt him about her, but he didn't need her to smooth his pillows!

The four-poster bed was large, but the dorm room was actually smaller than the room Lucas and his twin sister had to themselves. Not very impressive to be honest. He already though he'd rather be back home.

He was about to tell Sadie that he wanted to go to sleep, but at that moment he was thinking about home and feeling wistful, so his voice quivered a little as he began to tell her; "Sadie…"

She scrambled onto the bed and the curtains fell shut. Sadie conjured a light at the end of her wand that lit everything with a faint, silvery glow and leaned her disfigured face close to him. "Are you alright?"

Her blue eyes looked anxious through the holes in her green mask. She touched his cheek with a little, doll-like hand. "It's alright. Everyone feels a bit homesick the first night. I won't tell the others. I'm here as long as you need."

She sat on the bed beside him and cooed to Chip, the ugly little purple thing. She put the end of a crystal potion flask into Chip's slit of a mouth. "Isn't that delicious? Yes, it's delicious."

"What is Chip?" asked Lucas.

"I thought Chip was lost forever," said Sadie. "But now we can be together forever this way, can't we Chip? That's how it should be."

"Forever?"

Sadie smiled at him. "We can be together forever as well. You'll see." She reached out and stoked his hair. "Rest now."

She began to sing a really weird lullaby in her high voice. Although he wouldn't have called it restful, Lucas found himself drifting off.

When he woke up, his mouth was dry. He'd been asleep for hours. Sadie was gone, but now the curtains fell back and her disfigured, green face loomed over him. Her features moved under her mask to form a smile.

"Good morning. Thought you might like a drink before breakfast." She thrust a glass of purple milkshake at him. She was dressed in clean robes and he caught the sharp smell of whatever hair dye she used. She must have already gone through her showering and hair dyeing routine while he slept.

She sat on the side of the bed, swinging her legs which didn't quite reach the stone floor. "Sit with us at breakfast, OK? I'll show you the way to your first class. This place is a maze when you're not used to it."

* * *

00O00

Harry rummaged through his trunk, looking for his homework. In the shuffle the trunk had gone through since he had packed his things away, it had slipped from the place he'd secured it. He had taken out the books he would need for his classes that day, and now he hunted for his summer homework. This was ridiculous; homework didn't _move_. Yet it wasn't in any obvious place. He pulled out his other textbooks, stacking them on the floor beside his trunk.

Draco stuck his head into the room. "Potter? Everyone's waiting for you."

"I can't find my homework," he said, not even looking at his friend.

"Well where did you leave it?" Draco asked, coming over.

"It should be _right here_," Harry burst out with exasperation. He pushed some clothes aside; he hadn't unpacked fully as yet.

"Obviously it's not," Draco noted unhelpfully.

"Obviously," Harry said, rolling his eyes. He did not need Draco's deadpanning right now. "Look, why don't you just go up to breakfast. I've got to keep looking."

"Okay. Just don't be late," Draco advised. "We've got Transfiguration first thing, and I doubt McGonagall would buy your excuse."

"Now I _definitely _need to find my homework," Harry grumbled. The last thing he wanted to do was face Professor McGonagall without his summer assignment in hand.

Perhaps he should just unpack everything from his trunk. Emptying it would be the most expedient way of finding the folder if it was hiding somewhere. Harry nodded. Yes, that made sense.

He piled all his clothes in a heap on his bed, then he stacked his school books on the floor next to his trunk. His supplies of Potions ingredients were the next to come out, followed by his Astronomy things, his broom care kit, and a package of owl treats… With some care, he removed the invisibility cloak that had belonged to his father and hung it in the back of his wardrobe.

His trunk was empty now. His spare quills, ink, and parchment were put away in his desk. The few books he owned had been added to the stack of his school texts. His Gobstones and wizard chess pieces were on top of his dresser. He knew the location of everything he owned, but the folder he had put all of his summer assignments in was gone.

Living in Slytherin House, he trusted all of his friends completely and knew that they would never go through his things. None of them would play this sort of joke on him. Thus, he was in a state of shock that something like this had happened.

Angrily, he began tearing through his books, wondering if he might have, not thinking, stuck the folder between the pages. He had not.

There was nothing more he could do here. Harry grimly stuffed his books into his bag and shouldered it. He would just have to go. This was not an auspicious way to start the school year. He was frustrated. He'd worked hard on his homework, and now it was just wasted effort.

Despondently, he left his room and passed through the stone wall that was the entrance to Slytherin House. He shuffled his feet, walking slowly, trying to figure out what he was going to tell Professor McGonagall. Her stern, imposing gaze would see right through any feeble excuse he offered. Perhaps the truth, as strange as it was, would be the best option.

As he approached the Great Hall, the doors opened up and students began to depart. Wonderful. He'd missed breakfast. He went to go find his friends, who were just finishing up.

"Anything turn up?" Draco asked smirking.

"No," Harry sighed.

"What happened, Harry?" asked Sadie, her masked face creasing into a worried expression. That red headed first year boy was with her. She was holding his hand, and Chip was strapped to her flat chest.

"My homework's disappeared," he said, snagging an apple.

"Is that for breakfast, or are you hoping that kissing up to old McGonagall will save you a dressing down?" Theo asked slyly.

"I don't think _anything _can save me from that," Harry said, crunching into the fruit. "I'm resigned to it."

"Aww, no," said Sadie, patting his arm. "We can explain it all to her. I know you've done your homework. I saw you do it."

"You'll find it in a week or so, after you've redone all the assignments," Tracy told him, squeezing his hand. "It's the nature of things. I once lost my favourite book and only found it once my parents had got me another copy."

"Where did you find your beloved dictionary?" Daphne asked.

"_ You _are not supposed to be having coffee," Tracy retorted, removing the near-full cup from her hands.

"Awww," Daphne sighed, highly disappointed.

Harry grinned momentarily despite himself. "Well, time to go face the music," he said lightly, despite the sinking feeling in his guts.

Sadie went off with her first year mentee and did not rejoin them until they were already in the Transfiguration classroom. Harry was a bit put out, so he took Tracy's hand to walk to class instead.

He was pleased that his memory of the castle hadn't dulled over the summer. Despite his distraction over his missing homework, his feet knew exactly where they were walking. He even remembered to jump over the disappearing step.

Professor McGonagall was not waiting for them when they arrived. Harry had held out a faint hope that he might talk privately with her before the lecture, but that was dashed now. He began mentally preparing himself for the tirade he was certain to hear. At least his friends knew what had happened and wouldn't think any less of him.

"Good morning, Slytherins," Professor McGonagall greeted them as she entered the room. "Please pass your summer assignments forward."

No sense in putting it off. Harry raised his hand. "Professor?"

"Please wait to be called on, Mister Potter. What is it?"

"My essay has gone missing," he told her. "I wrote it, put it in a folder with my other work, and when I went to look for it this morning, it was gone."

Just as he had predicted, Professor McGonagall's eyes narrowed, and she looked down at him over her spectacles. "Am I to understand that your Transfiguration homework somehow vanished of its own accord from your folder, Mister Potter?" Her tone was sceptical.

"No, Professor," he corrected her. "The whole folder has vanished."

She stared down her nose at him some more.

"Harry did his homework, Professor," Sadie interrupted. "I saw it."

"Silence, McIntyre." The old witch pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "Detention, Mister Potter, this Saturday. I will inform you as to the details later. You will also write your essay and turn it in to me no later than the start of our next meeting on Monday. Now then, our subject today is..."

Harry tried his best to pay attention, but inside he was seething. Detention on his first day back. He hated Professor McGonagall in that moment. He hoped Tracy or Sadie was taking good notes, because his own were hardly legible.

When she began asking questions, Harry raised his hand with his friends, but McGonagall never called on him. Every time he put his hand down, he seethed that much more. Why wouldn't she give him the opportunity to earn some points for Slytherin? Was she deliberately trying to humiliate him?

Perhaps she thought he'd simply slacked off over holiday and was only pretending to know the answer. She was Head of Gryffindor House and had a dim view of Slytherins; this he knew for a fact. If he hadn't done his summer homework, he _wouldn't _have known any of the answers to her questions. But he did! Tired of being ignored, Harry stopped raising his hand.

When the class mercifully came to an end, he left the room with relief. It was time to retreat to the safety of the dungeons. Potions lecture with Professor Snape, his own Head of House, would brighten his mood.

When they arrived at the classroom, the students sat in their customary seats. Clumsy Neville Longbottom tripped over his feet as he crossed the threshold, and Draco let loose with a loud guffaw as Neville crashed to the floor. Sadie tutted at Draco and shook her head, her purple hair rippling and bouncing. Hermione Granger pulled Neville to his feet.

Weasley, Finnigan, and Thomas all gave the Slytherins dirty looks, but before any words could be exchanged, Professor Snape made his entrance as dramatically as ever by slamming the door behind him as he exited his office, and he stood there watching them all with his fingers arched.

"Weasley, where may one find a bezoar?" he asked, his mouth curling into a sneer.

Weasley choked. Professor Snape had asked Weasley that question at the beginning of first year, and again the next week. The boy hadn't known the answer either time, and had lost points. From the expression on his face, he still didn't know.

"Sir, I-" he began hesitantly.

"Tell me how it is, Weasley, that a whole year has passed since I first asked you that question and you still do not know the answer," Snape demanded acidly. Harry could hear Draco trying very hard to muffle his laughter in the seat behind him. Tracy, sitting beside him, wasn't doing much better at stifling giggles.

Snape wasn't waiting for an answer. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and I think a detention is in order. I will notify you." His gimlet eyes seemed to dare the Gryffindor to protest. "Now then, tomorrow you will all prepare the Moving Picture Potion. If you were diligent in your reading for the summer homework, you should be capable of making the potion at this moment."

His eyes scanned the room. The Potions Master was about to begin asking his famous questions. Harry sat straighter in his seat. After the horrible experience in Transfiguration, he'd be glad to show that he had some brains in his head.

"Mister Potter, what is the base we will use for this potion?" he asked, beginning with the very simple.

"One third vinegar, two thirds water, sir," Harry responded in a clear voice.

"Correct," Snape said. "And the first step of the procedure?"

"Before we even add the vinegar, we must distil the water," Harry replied.

"Excellent. Ten points to Slytherin." Snape sounded pleased.

The questions went on for another ten minutes before Snape seemed convinced that they were prepared to attempt brewing the potion. Hermione kept bouncing up and down, jerking her hand in the air in her eagerness to answer, but Snape ignored her. Harry knew what that was like. McGonagall had done the same to him. Eventually, Gryffindor was down five points, while Slytherin had gained fifty. Harry's black mood had completely vanished by the time Snape began lecturing on the properties of yew, the dust of which they would be using in the potion.

When the bell tolled the end of class, Harry quickly put away his things and shouldered his bag. As they filed up the corridor, Sadie ran up to Hermione Granger and touched her arm. "Hogwarts Togetherness Club starts on Saturday. Hope you can make it. The next one will be about the Ministry."

"You hope she can make it? What else would she be doing on Saturday?" scoffed Pansy.

"No one asked you, Pansy," said Theo poking Pansy and they both began to scuffle.

Hermione clasped Sadie's little hand. "Yes, dear. I will be there. It'll be fascinating to learn about the Wizarding Government. Especially about all the different departments and how they work."

Pansy giggled and Tracy put her hand to her mouth as if preventing herself from giggling.

"Well, see you." Hermione scurried off.

"Learning about the Ministry," said Theo. "She'll learn that if she gets into the Ministry, she'll most likely be serving tea to the likes of Ludo Bagman her entire career."

"It is pretty sad, I agree," said Sadie, glumly.

At lunch, hurriedly rewriting his Astronomy assignment took up most of Harry's attention, but he _was _able to eat a sandwich while scratching away with his quill. He got on well with Professor Sinistra, but if he didn't give her _something_, she would be very put out with him. He glanced from time to time at Theo's parchment and at Tracy's and Sadie's as well. Harry liked Astronomy and was quite good at it, so he didn't need to copy word for word; he only checked to double-check his facts.

"Finished," he said finally, tossing down the quill and reaching for another sandwich.

"Better eat that on the way up," Millie told him. "It's just about that time."

"Bother," Harry complained, taking a large bite and stuffing his things into his bag. The walk up to the Astronomy Tower was long, so their lunch hour was actually closer to forty-five minutes, which could get to be inconvenient.

As they came out onto the battlements, Harry took a deep breath of the warm sunshine. It was a good sign, he felt. Whatever had happened to his homework, the worst of it was over. He could rewrite his other assignments tonight. He might not get much sleep, but on Thursdays, they had no classes before lunch. They had been discussing the great surprise it had been to see the open space in the schedule.

"If Flint makes me get up early on Thursdays, I'm going to go spare," Harry commented. The Quidditch Captain was notoriously fanatic about practices.

The Astronomy classroom was just as Harry remembered it. Professor Sinistra was seated at her desk, but rather than sleepy as she had appeared one year ago, today she appeared to be wide awake. Her black hair had been pulled back to reveal her face.

"Good morning, Slytherins!" she said cheerfully.

"Good morning, Professor Sinistra," they chorused. She stopped in her tracks.

"Now tell me, why did you say good morning when you know perfectly well that it's afternoon?" she asked. "Pansy?"

"Well, I, um, you said good morning," Pansy hedged nervously.

Sinistra smiled in a sardonic way. "No," she shook her head. "Good afternoon," she said deliberately.

"Good afternoon," they repeated.

"Oh dear," Sinistra murmured, taking some notes.

The Slytherins looked at each other uncertainly. This was confusing. Theo raised his hand. "Professor?"

She looked up. "Now then, Astronomy!"

Except for a commotion several floors down, the lecture was very interesting. Loud crashes kept interrupting Professor Sinistra, and she was getting very cross by the time she called an end to the lecture.

"Perhaps when we meet again on Friday, this disturbance will be gone. Dismissed."

Harry was one of the first down the stairs. He was very curious indeed about the source of the noise. Strangely enough, it seemed to be coming from the direction of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom! Cautiously, the Slytherins inched their way down the corridor.

The scene inside the classroom was one of chaos and destruction. Professor Lockhart was nowhere to be seen, but dozens of electric-blue Cornish pixies were wrecking anything they could get their tiny hands on.

"Help!" The voice was coming from very high up. Harry peered around until he saw Neville Longbottom clinging to a ceiling beam. Hermione was standing under him, wringing her hands.

Pansy pointed and began to laugh. One of the pixies came flying towards the door to get them, but Draco zapped it with a hex Harry didn't hear. The spark of blue light sent the flying creature spiralling to the floor.

Sadie ran up to where Hermione was, Harry following her.

"What'll I do? There's no ladder!" said Hermione, clearly forgetting she was a witch.

"We're only second year students," said Draco annoyingly. "We should really just stay out of it. We haven't learned how to deal with pixies yet. We could get hurt."

"If Longbottom were any kind of a wizard, he'd bounce," sniped Pansy.

"Shut up, Pansy!" said Theo, poking her. They began to scuffle yet again.

"Tracy, you're the best at Wingardium Leviosa," said Sadie beckoning to her. "We need your help now. I'll create a cushioning charm."

"Alright," said Tracy shrugging.

She picked her way through the wrecked classroom, the other Slytherins forming a circle and zapping pixies who came at them.

"Hold still there, Longbottom," said Tracy raising her wand.

"Yes, just take a deep breath, Longbottom," urged Sadie. "You'll be alright. I won't let you fall."

Sadie pointed at the floorboards and muttered some unintelligible words.

"Wingardium Leviosa," said Tracy, pointing at Neville.

Longbottom was lifted from the beam and onto the cushioning charm.

"There!" Sadie clapped her hands together. "Told you I wouldn't let you fall." She put her hands on Longbottom's shoulders and peered into his eyes intently.

He gave her a small smile and she beamed back. "You are alright."

"Professor Lockhart said to nip the rest of the pixies back into their cage," said Hermione.

"That is something for a teacher or a prefect to do," said Sadie firmly, taking her by the hand. The crowd of them left the classroom.

Without a Defence class to attend, the Slytherins had the rest of the day free. Harry had homework to rewrite, so he reluctantly sat at his desk as the others played games out in the common room. The only sound was his quill scratching over the parchment as he wrote.

Sadie came to check on him, Chip strapped to her. "Need any help?"

"Not really, I'll soon be done," said Harry sighing.

"Wish I knew what happened to your folder."

"So do I."

"I'll work too, I have some of my own work to do." Sadie pulled out a roll of parchment and her favourite purple quill and sat next to Harry and Draco's desk and began to scribble weird shapes and diagrams.

"I think that cos Lucas is my mentee, it's understood that he's my patient as well," said Sadie suddenly.

"What?" Harry thought that had come out of nowhere. "What're you talking about? Is he sick?"

"Well no, but he's only mortal. I can change that now," said Sadie, scratching furiously at her parchment.

"Uh huh," Harry was concentrating on redoing his homework, so was only half-listening.


	6. Chapter 6

**Masked Super-Heroine**

In the morning, Harry was the only one in his room who woke early. His friends took advantage of the two free periods they had before lunch to sleep in. Harry hauled himself out of bed and stumbled to the shower. He would go up to breakfast and then finish rewriting his homework once his brain had kicked off sleep entirely.

When he emerged from the dorm, he was surprised to see Sadie in the common room with two very pretty first years. The Slater twins. Sadie was pointing at the glass window that looked out into an underwater scene beneath the surface of the lakes.

"This window is enchanted to be impervious," Sadie was telling them. "If you read books about Gryffindors sneaking into our Common Room under the effect of Polyjuice Potion, then they will somehow fail to notice it. But look – can you see the rays? Aren't they cute?"

Ghostly shapes of rays swooped near the window, their pale underbellies with their mouths looking really spooky.

The three of them noticed Harry at that point. The Slater twins gaped at him with identical expression of wonderment. Sadie's masked face split into a wide grin. "Harry! Good morning. Soo glad you could join us."

The girl, Leo, made a noise that sounded suspiciously like "Eep!" Her freckled face coloured readily, and she buried her it in her brother's shoulder. The boy, Lucas, shyly waved at Harry.

"Potter, isn't it?" he asked casually, then flushed like his sister. "Oh, how stupid of me, of course it is. Everyone knows. And Sadie's told us a lot of good things about you. I'm Slater. I just wanted to say hello. I'm so honoured to meet you."

Sadie beamed and clasped her little hands together. She had that strange, purple homunculus attached to her in a baby carrier. Was she going to cart it around everywhere?

"The pleasure's all mine, Slater," said Harry. "Nice to meet you, and your sister."

The girl made another "Eep!" Slater nodded his head. "Very good then."

Daphne emerged from the girls' dorms at that point.

"Good Morning!" said Harry, as Sadie ran up to greet Daphne with an awkward hug, Chip sort of getting in the way.

"This is perfect!" said Sadie. "We can all go to breakfast together."

Daphne yawned. "Might as well, I suppose."

"Yes," agreed Harry. "Then it's going to be time to hit the books. What are you doing up so early, Daphne?"

She looked at him warily. "Can I trust you all with a secret?"

Sadie's mask creased as her features underneath moved to form an anxious expression. "Of course. Nothing's wrong, I hope?"

"What's the big deal?" said Harry.

Daphne looked around at the common room, seeming to check for eavesdroppers. "I'm going to sneak a cup of coffee," she whispered.

Sadie rolled her eyes. Leo tittered. Harry snorted with laughter.

She gave him a mock glare. "Not funny. I love coffee, and I never get to drink it at school. _They _never let me."

Sadie chuckled. "Let's go up."

The Slytherins sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, Daphne and Sadie sipping coffee and eating scones. Sadie ate porridge and prunes and hummed to Chip and fed him from a crystal flask of potion. The Slater's tried traditional breakfasts. Harry had never tasted coffee before, and he found that it was quite enjoyable; strong, but enjoyable. Seeing the other students slowly arriving was sort of fun; Harry laughed when Professor Lockhart had dressed himself, then woken up and turned on the lights. Harry was still laughing when the professor approached them.

"Good morning, Harry," Lockhart said brightly. He singled Harry out for greeting, kissing up to a celebrity. "You're an early riser, I see. Good for you."

Sadie gave a small smile and murmured a greeting to Lockhart.

Harry fought an urge to roll his eyes. Everyone rose this early so they could eat breakfast. "Good morning, Professor," he responded neutrally. Why did fool have to bother him?

"Good morning, Professor Lockhart!" Daphne greeted him with a perky voice. "We missed you yesterday for class."

Lockhart choked on whatever it was he'd been about to say next. Coughing, he attempted to regain some composure. His face was a bit red, probably from his coughing fit.

"Most unfortunate incident," he said pompously. "Was held up for a few minutes, and apparently one of the students decided to turn loose a cage full of Cornish pixies I'd been planning to use as a demonstration. By the time I was finally able to get to the classroom, most of the excitement was over, I'm afraid."

"That's too bad," Daphne sympathized, still using her sugary-sweet voice. "Well, we'll see you on Tuesday. You'll have to talk doubly fast to catch us up on the materials."

"Indeed, you're right." Lockhart bestowed his gleaming white smile on them. "What a clever girl you are. Ten points for Slytherin."

"Thank you, sir!" she simpered. "Good morning!"

"Good morning." Lockhart hurried away.

"What an _ass_!" Daphne snorted, sipping from her cup. "I have never met anyone with a bigger ego, and that includes Draco."

Sadie grimaced. Backbiting made her uncomfortable.

00O00

"There," Harry said with satisfaction back in the dorm, wiping off his quill pen and setting it down. "Homework all finished."

"In only a relatively few hours," Theo admired. "I'm impressed."

"Be impressed all you want," Harry replied, "but I'm hungry."

His friends had lazed about in bed until nearly half ten, and then they lounged about in pyjamas for another hour watching Harry finish his homework. When they had offered to help, Harry had refused. He'd gotten into enough trouble by not having his homework ready to turn in. He certainly didn't want to be accused of cheating on it.

His hand was cramping up something fierce. Thankfully the class after lunch was only History of Magic, and he could not bother taking notes there. Surely the soreness would be gone by the time they descended to the dungeons again for double Potions with Gryffindor.

Harry didn't even bother to bring his thick, heavy book for History of Magic. There was no sense in hauling the great thing up and down all those steps when they never referred to it anyway. His bag was light and so was his step as the second year Slytherins emerged from the stone corridors.

"What is that little twerp doing there?" Millie muttered. She meant her younger brother, who was standing at the entrance to the Great Hall with a smaller boy, who had mousy brown hair and clutched an old-fashioned camera.

"There he is," Arthur said to the boy. "Now if you _don't _mind, I'm going to eat, Creevey."

"What's going on?" Theo wondered quietly.

"Beats me," Pansy shrugged.

"Let's find out," Draco said, sauntering forward. He stopped directly in front of the boy, who looked petrified by facing down so many Slytherins. "What do you want, Gryffindor?" he said aggressively.

"Draco!" said Sadie. "Remember Hogwarts Togetherness!"

The little boy turned to look at Sadie and his eyes widened.

"What are you looking at, Gryffindor?" demanded Tracy, scowling at him.

"Answer my question!" said Draco.

The boy's face went pale at Draco's hostility. "M-m-my name is Colin C-creevey," he stuttered. "I w-wanted to meet Harry P-p-potter. P-perhaps have a picture taken to prove I m-met him."

Harry groaned inwardly and looked up at the ceiling. _Why me? _he demanded silently.

Draco was giving Creevey a withering look. "Absolutely out of the question," he said derisively.

Creevey's face fell. "But-but, I just-"

Theo decided to speak up. "Are you deaf? Or stupid? We just told you that it's out of the question."

Pansy smirked. "Couldn't Crabbe and Goyle escort Creevey away?"

"I would like to be allowed the chance," said Crabbe, looking at Draco.

"Hmm," said Draco. "Well it's rude to gawp at Harry Potter and demand photos, or to stare at Sadie like that. So maybe young Creevey needs to learn a lesson."

"No!" Sadie started forward hastily, taking Creevey by the hand. "Come on, dear. Why don't I escort you to the Gryffindor table and everyone can forget this?"

"Actually, one photo can't hurt," said Harry softening.

He and Sadie took Creevey into a side room, where he seemed to get excited. "Are you a super-heroine? Is that why you wear a mask?"

"Super-heroine?" Sadie smiled at him with the lips of her mask. "I don't even know what that means."

"It means a heroine who's really powerful of course," said Creevey. "She could fly, or she could do weird and amazing things."

"That fits Sadie perfectly," said Harry, putting his arm around his friend's skinny waist. "She's a real super-heroine."

Creevey beamed. "This is excellent. I know a super-heroine and a super-hero. Now You-Know-Who… he's what Muggles call a super-villain. That's a villain who's so much more dangerous than a Muggle villain."

"Oh yes, there's no doubt about that," said Sadie nodding, her purple hair rippling and bouncing.

"So Harry must be a super-hero, because he beat an actual super-villain," said Creevey. "I wanna be his side-kick."

"If you come to the Hogwarts Togetherness Club, you can get to know Harry better," said Sadie. "It's the best way for Muggle-Borns to get to know the magical world."

Harry and Sadie went back into the corridor.

"Potter, I'd like a word with you." That was Professor McGonagall; he'd recognize her stern voice anywhere. He put on a pleasant face.

"Good day, Professor," he said politely. He looked over at his friends and nodded, indicating that they should go on without him.

"I have here the details of your detention," she informed him, handing him a folded piece of parchment.

"I have something for you too," Harry told her, fighting the urge to say something snappy that would likely get him more detention. He rummaged in his bag and produced his rewritten Transfiguration homework. "Here," he said, handing it over.

The grey-haired professor took the parchment, scanned it, and looked down her nose at him. "This is all your own work?" she demanded sharply. "None of your friends helped you write it?"

"We certainly didn't, Professor!" said Sadie. "We'd never do that."

"Well I can take your word at least, McIntyre," said McGonagall, as if to imply that she didn't take Harry's word.

At lunch, Harry sat down with his friends and opened up the parchment she had given him. "Oh no, I've got detention with Lockhart!" he exclaimed.

Daphne patted his hand. "I'm sure that's the most diabolical thing they could come up with," she reassured him. "A few hours of listening to that git prattle on about himself would be torture for anyone."

Harry ate as his friends speculated about the odious form his detention would take. There were suggestions of helping Lockhart to brush his hair, taking photographs of the man, or helping to polish his ego. Harry stuffed the parchment into his bag, determined to ignore it until Saturday night.

Hopefully History of Magic would be less boring, now it was Quirrell taking it instead of Binns.

Draco thought he could try and test things out by being cheeky. "Why do we need to know about Azkaban before it was a prison?" he asked impertinently. "It was just Muggles who came unstuck there back when it was the home of the evil wizard, Ekrizdis."

"You should not make light of it, M-Malfoy," said Quirrell. "The danger posed by evil wizards is something timeless." He shuddered.

"Yeah, a mad foreign wizard might put one under the Imperius Curse if he was dopey enough," said Draco smirking.

"Draco!" scolded Sadie.

"Try to be a good student, like Miss McIntyre is," said Quirrell. "There's no question she deserves straight Outstanding grades. You, Mr Malfoy, come across as a dunce."

Quirrell was obviously grateful that Sadie had saved his soul from Voldemort the previous summer, even though Dumbledore had given up on saving him. The official story Dumbledore had spun afterwards was that an unknown foreign wizard put the Imperius Curse on Quirrell and included no mention of Voldemort.

Harry found himself looking forward to his first Herbology class. During the previous school year, they had only worked in greenhouse one. Now that they had some experience under their belts, they would be studying the more interesting and more dangerous plants kept in the other conservatories.

Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, was a squat little witch who wore a patched hat over her flyaway hair. There was usually a large amount of earth on her clothes and under her fingernails. At the moment she had a somewhat frazzled look about her, but Harry understood perfectly; Professor Lockhart was talking to her.

"Quite a decent crop of Mandrakes, I must say. Not nearly as healthy as a batch I raised several years ago, but then again, not everybody has my delicate touch with plants."

"Off with you now, Professor, I'm sure you have more important things to do than grub around in the dirt with the second years." Somehow, Professor Sprout managed to sound pleasant.

"Quite right, quite right. I'll see everyone at lunch." The possibility of getting dirty seemed to have finally chased the pompous fool away. He quick-stepped it through the vegetable patches and hurried into the castle.

Sprout watched him leave with an expression that might have been relief. "Hello, second years," she said to the assembled Slytherins and Ravenclaws.

"Good morning, Professor Sprout!" they all responded in unison.

"We'll be in greenhouse three today, chaps." The students looked at each other with some sense of anticipation. Sprout took a large key from her belt and unlocked the door. Harry caught a whiff of damp earth and fertilizer mingling with the heavy perfume of some giant, umbrella-sized flowers dangling from the ceiling.

Professor Sprout took her place at the head of a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. Pairs of different-coloured earmuffs lay in a pile. "Line up, now dears, line up. Today we're going to be repotting Mandrakes. Now who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?"

To nobody's surprise, Theo's hand was the first in the air, an instant after Sadie's. Ever competitive with him when it came to academics, Terry Boot threw a glare in Theo's direction as his own hand went up a half-second later.

"Nott?"

"Mandrake, Mandragora, is a powerful restorative. It's used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed into their original state."

"Excellent. Ten points to Slytherin. The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes, which is why I make it a point to raise a crop every few years. However, it is also dangerous. Who can tell me why? Boot?"

"The cry of the mature Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it," Terry said smugly, glancing to see if Theo was paying attention. "The cry of an immature Mandrake can cause unconsciousness, paralysis, and brain damage."

"Good! Ten points to Ravenclaw. Now, the Mandrakes we have here are still very young." She pointed to a row of deep trays as she spoke, and everyone shuffled forward to get a better look. A hundred or so tufty little plants, purplish green in colour, were growing there in neatly ordered rows. They looked quite unremarkable, but Harry knew from reading _Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them _that something magnificent awaited them all underneath. "Everyone take a pair of earmuffs."

There was a bit of a scramble as everyone tried to get a set of earmuffs that wasn't bright pink and fluffy.

"You'll want to make sure your ears are completely covered," Professor Sprout said. "When it is safe to remove the earmuffs, I will give you a thumbs up." She demonstrated. "Until then, leave them in place. Now, earmuffs _on! _"

Harry snapped the earmuffs over his ears. They shut out sound completely. They must have been magically enhanced. Professor Sprout took the pink pair for herself, rolled up her sleeves, grasped one of the tufty plants firmly, and pulled hard.

Harry let out a gasp that he couldn't hear. Instead of roots, a small, muddy, and very ugly baby popped out of the earth. The leaves were growing right out of the top of its head. He had pale green skin and was visibly bawling at the top of his lungs. Nothing in the text had prepared Harry for this sight.

Sadie clasped her hands together and gazed at it with an expression of adoration in her blue eyes.

Professor Sprout took a large plant pot from under the table and plunked the Mandrake into it, burying him in dark, damp compost until only the tufted leaves were visible again. She dusted off her hands, gave them a thumbs up, and removed her own earmuffs.

"As our Mandrakes are only seedlings, their cries won't kill yet," she said calmly as though she'd just done nothing more exciting than water a begonia. "However, as Boot pointed out, they _will _knock you out for several hours. Make sure your earmuffs are securely in place while you work. I will attract your attention when it's time to pack up. Four students to a tray. There's a large supply of pots here; the compost is in the sacks over there. Do mind the Venomous Tentacula; he's teething."

She gave a sharp slap to a spiky, dark red plant as she spoke, making it draw in the long feelers that had been inching sneakily over her shoulder.

Harry, Draco, Tracy, and Sadie were already gathered at a tray. Terry and Padma Patil joined Theo and Pansy. Crabbe, Goyle, were partnered with Daphne and Millie. Harry nodded to the Ravenclaws, but they had no chance to talk. Earmuffs were back on, and Mandrakes needed repotting.

Professor Sprout had made it look easy, but there was nothing simple about it. The Mandrakes didn't like coming out of the earth, but they didn't seem to want to go back into it either. They squirmed, kicked, flailed their little fists, and gnashed their teeth. Harry spent ten minutes trying to squash a particularly fat one into a pot.

By the end of the lesson, they were all sweaty, grubby, aching, and covered in earth. They traipsed back to the dungeons for a quick wash before hurrying to the Astronomy Tower for their next class.

* * *

00O00

Harry and Sadie visited Cora before Harry had to go to detention. The hag was scrubbing toilets again on the first floor. The candle light in the bathroom lit up her face and shone off her green nose and cheeks as she beamed at them. She sat on the bench to speak to them.

"Ah, sorry to hear that," said Cora, when she heard Harry had detention. "But as long as it's with that wonderful Lockhart, it can't be too bad." She clasped the book, Holidays with Hags, to her breast. "It's a wonderful book. He tells all about how he tried to build good wizarding-hag relations. Wish I could get to know him better. He sounds so understanding." There was a misty look in her blue eyes.

So Harry's own mother had been fooled by Lockhart? How embarrassing.


	7. Chapter 7

**Darkness and Murmurings**

Harry was not enjoying his first real detention. It wasn't so much that he minded the time away from his studies but that he had to spend the time in the same room as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart.

Lockhart had not set Harry to scrubbing cauldrons or anything like that. No, it had been Harry's dubious honour sit at a desk and address envelopes for the Lockhart's fan mail.

Countless framed photographs of Lockhart hung on the walls, that toothy smile gleaming in the light of many candles. He had even signed a few of the pictures. Another large stack lay on the desk.

The minutes crawled by. Harry had done his best to let Lockhart's voice wash over him after his first outrageously pretentious remark of, "Remember Harry, fame's a fickle friend." Now Harry merely nodded and made vague sounds of assent.

As the candles burned lower, light danced over the many moving photos of Lockhart that were all watching him. Harry wrote out another address with an aching hand. _It must be nearly time to leave _, he thought miserably to himself. _Please let it be nearly time. _

Then he heard something. It was a sound quite unlike the sputtering of the dying candles or Lockhart's prattling about his fans. In fact, it was unlike anything he had ever heard. It was a voice, a voice to chill the marrow in his bones, a voice of breath-taking, ice-cold venom.

_"Come... come to me... Let me rip you... Let me tear you... Let me kill you..." _

Harry jumped sharply. "What?"

"I know!" Lockhart exclaimed. "Top of the bestseller list again. Broke all records."

"No," Harry said, trying to keep his imagination from conjuring up images of whatever it was Lockhart had been talking about. "That voice."

Lockhart peered at him quizzically. "Voice? What voice?"

He probably hadn't heard. The fool never listened to any voice other than his own. Harry forced a smile. "Oh, it must have been nothing. Maybe I was dreaming."

"Nodding off in detention is wrong, Harry," Lockhart reproved him. "But no wonder, we've been here nearly four hours! I'd have never believed. The time's flown. Remember, you mustn't expect a treat like this every time you serve detention."

Treat! Writing addresses on envelopes was as bad as writing lines.

They went out into the hall. Cora was there. She grinned at the sight of them. She was holding Holidays with Hags. "Ah, Harry, you're detention's over. Good. Uh – Professor Lockhart?" she shifted nervously on her feet. "I – I just wanted to say, I - I really love your books, and your work … uh –"

"Naturally, dear lady," said Lockhart flashing his smile at her. "No one else can compare."

Cora would probably have blushed if her green cheeks could go red. "I – I know…" she said breathlessly. "I wanted to ask if you could please sign my Holidays with Hags. But then I heard this spooky voice saying horrible things. Like it was in the walls."

"Harry said the same thing," said Lockhart. "Not to worry, I can escort you both back to your rooms. You have nothing to fear from whatever it is."

Harry had to endure Lockhart prattling on about himself all the way back to the corridor with the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Great. The worst part was that his mother seemed to believe everything Lockhart said, gazing at him with an expression of rapt admiration on her green face.

"I can open the door myself," said Harry when they were in the Slytherin corridor.

"Very well," said Lockhart, taking Cora's green hand. "My good lady, I can escort you to your room if you would rather not be alone tonight."

Cora gave a most un-Cora like giggle and brushed her red hair away from her green face with her free hand.

As he entered the common room, Harry saw that the fire had burned quite low. In the dorm, all his friends were asleep.

Harry shrugged out of his robes and put on his pyjamas. Crawling under the covers, he blew out the candle that had been left burning for him. His last thought before sleep claimed him was that he was lucky to have such caring friends.

* * *

00O00

Lucas was having trouble sleeping that night. The other boys had been asleep for hours. The candles were casting flickering shadows on the walls. Lucas had a eerie feeling. Was this the Witching Hour, when all dark things come out of hiding and have the world to themselves? It wasn't difficult to imagine. Lucas thought Hogwarts was a creepy old place, and the Slytherin House ambience especially. What might jump out of the shadows?

"Lucas? Dear?" A high girl's voice and an uncannily disfigured girl's face appeared next to his.

It was Sadie, wrapped in a purple hooded robe. Not really surprising for her to be up at the Witching Hour.

"Sadie," he murmured.

Her mask creased as the features underneath moved to form a concerned expression. "You're wide awake. But you look shattered. Sorry. Don't mean to be rude. Are you worried about something?"

He wouldn't have admitted this to anyone else, but he might as well tell her. She wouldn't make fun of him. "I'm finding Hogwarts too tiring."

Sadie's blue eyes were gazing at him through the holes in her mask. He continued: "My sister and I just worked when we wanted to before. We used to have a tutor who came to the house. Um… Don't think Hogwarts suits me."

"Aw." She touched his cheek with her little hand. "Poor muffin."

She clambered onto the bed.

"Don't you need any sleep?" he wondered.

She nuzzled his cheek with her cold mannequin face. Her face felt hard and plastic. "I had stuff to do tonight, but I can cancel it. I wanna help you."

"Help? How?"

"I can take stress and negative energy away and use it. It's kinda like a hobby of mine."

"Can you? You're just a second year."

She smiled at him with the lips of her mask. "I can show you."

Lucas doubted it. "Go ahead."

She leaned her disfigured face close, her staring eyes looking into his. "All you have to do is just lie back, as you already are, and try to relax. You can close your eyes if you want to. You can focus on my face. You can look around… anything you want to." She was breathing down his nostrils. "I'm gonna take the negative energy away. It won't hurt, I promise, I promise."

She waved her wand and her little hands in strange motions in front of his face, murmuring "take … take … take."

She peered closely at him. He suppressed a smirk at how funny she looked. She smiled at him with the lips of her mask. "There. You should feel a lot better. If you feel bad again, I'll come back and collect the negative energy… um…"

She sat beside him on the bed. She had Chip, the ugly purple mannequin and was feeding him again from that crystal flask. "There there, Chip, you poor little soul." It was like she was communicating with Chip, or thought she was.

"Can you take Chip's negative energy away?" asked Lucas.

Sadie sighed. "It's not so simple for Chip. But I will find a way." She turned her disfigured face to him. "You have a beautiful soul. It deserves to be with your beautiful body forever. You should stay beautiful and sweet throughout the ages."

"Uh huh." Lucas was drowsy. He could sleep now.

Sadie brought a smaller crystal flask from her robe pocket. Inside was a purple liquid… or was it a gas? It was constantly swirling. "Dark Elixir. First batch. To guarantee immortality. The Flamel formula doesn't."

"Who's Flamel?" Lucas wasn't really interested in knowing.

Sadie turned and smiled at him with the lips of her mask. "A great alchemist. But we can do great things together. But I want you to live forever."

"Cool idea." Sadie could imagine wonderful things.

She held the flask to him. "Please take immortality Lucas."

Lucas took the tiny flask and removed the stopper, letting the formula slide down his throat. He felt a warm glow all the way down his gullet. Then a warm glow seemed to radiate through him. He felt remarkably well. Sadie stroked his hair and smiled at him with the lips of her mask. She murmured some weird esoteric words and then said in English: "Stay young for eternity."

* * *

00O00

The next morning, Harry pulled Draco and Theo aside from Crabbe and Goyle to tell them about the voice he had heard. His friends were both extremely clever, and Harry felt confident that there was nothing the three of them couldn't figure out right away, as long as Crabbe and Goyle didn't get in the way.

"Lockhart said he couldn't hear it?" Theo asked, scratching his head. "Hmmm."

"That doesn't add up," Draco told them. "Even someone under an invisibility cloak would have to open the door."

"That definitely didn't happen," Harry replied. "It couldn't have been a ghost, do you think?"

"No, Lockhart would have heard it in that case."

"Could he be lying?" Draco asked.

"It's a mystery," Theo grinned. "I like mysteries."

There were no more clues to the mysterious voice in the next couple of weeks, and without a repeat performance by the disembodied voice, Harry had almost forgotten the strange incident in Lockhart's office as his days settled into a comforting, familiar routine

The first meeting of Hogwarts Togetherness hadn't happened yet, so Harry did have that to look forward to, but his free time was largely taken up by homework and Quidditch practice, which Marcus Flint had been ruthless about. The Slytherin team drilled at odd hours, in horrible weather, and for long stretches at a time. Harry was particularly annoyed with the latter, since he'd never failed to catch the Snitch in less than a few minutes once he'd spotted it.

His classes were all much the same as last year. Transfiguration was still difficult. Charms would require work, but at least it would be interesting. Astronomy was complicated but fascinating. Herbology and Potions remained his best subjects.

It was in Defence Against the Dark Arts that Harry was convinced his true skills lay. That was a part of their formal schooling, after all, to discover in what areas their magical talents were strongest and what areas needed to be worked on and developed. It was unfortunate that Professor Lockhart was so useless. His lectures were almost totally uninformative. They learned no spells, no hexes, not even important traits of Dark creatures. Instead, Lockhart told them stories of his exploits, and as interesting as the stories sometimes were (Harry could not deny that the man was a talented storyteller), Harry was very tired of being called upon to play the role of the monster as Lockhart acted out his adventures.

"Then I threw the silver dagger at it, like _so_, causing it to scream in mortal agony. Scream, Harry. Come on, scream."

Sighing, knowing that his friends were infinitely more entertained by this than he was, Harry drew in a deep breath and yelled like bloody murder.

"That's excellent! Now, I had wounded the creature, and that's all it really takes. I drew my wand and cast the Homorphus Charm. The magic sank in through the open wound, and quick as a whip, there stood a normal man before me, cured of his foul curse."

The most irritating thing was that he looked as though they should all be impressed beyond words. Harry sighed and refrained from looking at his watch again.

Theo raised his hand. "Professor? Isn't the Homorphus Charm only temporary?"

"Not at all, Nott," Lockhart tried to dismiss the question.

"But sir, it says right here in-"

"Perhaps such restrictions apply to _ordinary _wizards, Nott, but Gilderoy Lockhart is no normal mage."

"You're abnormal alright," Harry heard Daphne mutter. He bit his tongue in order to keep from laughing out loud.

He wished his mother could be more sensible about Lockhart.

"That Professor Lockhart… he brought me joy I never thought I'd feel!" Cora told Harry and Sadie when they visited her as she scrubbed toilets one night. Her blue eyes were misty and her green face seemed to glow as she said it. "He can see that wizards and hags can be great together…"

Suddenly, Cora retched and then vomited into the toilet. "Sorry, dears," she said weakly.

Why was his mother vomiting? She was never ill. Harry knew she could eat bugs and raw fish and her stomach dealt with it just fine.

"Are you alright?" said Sadie anxiously, putting a little hand on her green shoulder.

"Yes. I've a feeling I'm a lot better than alright. Hope I'm right. Can't speak too soon." Cora was grinning.

OK, what was she talking about?

* * *

00O00

October arrived in due course, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. The miserable weather spawned a spate of colds all over the castle. Students, including Weasley's baby sister, and staff, Professor Sinistra especially, checked in with Madam Pomfrey to get a dose of her Pepperup potion. The stuff worked instantly, but it left the drinker smoking at the ears for several hours afterwards.

It was Monday morning in the first week of the month that saw the first notable news from the world outside Hogwarts. As the morning post owls began dropping copies of the _Daily Prophet _into students' waiting hands, a low murmur began to spread through the Great Hall, undercutting the normal dull roar. Harry unfolded his copy and scanned the headlines.

**MINISTRY REJECTS NEW BUDGET**

London: The Ministry of Magic rejected the bill for a dramatic realignment today.

Lucius Malfoy, 38, Hogwarts school governor and the primary sponsor of the bill had this to say: "Waste is deplorable. Every year I see the numbers go up and up, and the Ministry gets bigger and bigger. Yet I don't notice any improvement in the quality of government service. In fact, it's becoming worse. Do you know how long I had to wait in order to get my new Floo set up? And I _know_ all the people over at Magical Transportation! It's absurd! It's time to act responsibly about the size and scope of the entire Ministry. Right now it's bloated and inept."

This was a topic at the first Hogwarts Togetherness meeting.

"This isn't a surprise," said Charity Burbage, who supervised the Hogwarts Togetherness society. "The Ministry is the only major employer in our world. Witches and wizards live a long time and promotion is glacially slow, so new departments and departmental annexes are invented and tacked on so the witches and wizards can have jobs."

"It's most important for the Muggle-Born to learn about the Ministry," said Susan Bones. "Auntie might agree that we should take a field trip there."

"An excellent idea!" said Professor Burbage.

Apart from the topic of the Ministry, some of the Muggle-born had things to tell the purebloods. Sadie looked over Colin Creevey's Batman comic with great interest.

"Batman is so irresponsible!" she declared. "What's he doing, taking a Muggle boy to fight this – this monster?" she poked the picture of the Joker chucking his deadly laughing gas bombs at people.

"Robin is Batman's side-kick," said Creevey happily. "I wanna be yours."

"I'd never take you into mortal danger like that," said Sadie firmly. "That's the opposite of how I work."

"May I borrow this?" asked Lucas, looking at the comic with interest. Sadie had persuaded her mentee to come to the meeting.

Creevey nodded.

* * *

00O00

That night, Harry and Sadie visited Cora in her garret room and then Hagrid in his cabin, because Sadie thought it had been a long time since they'd paid him a visit. On the way back to the Slytherin Common Room, they heard a sniffling in an alcove on the first floor.

Ginny Weasley was there. She glared at them with bright brown eyes. It looked like she had been crying.

"Are you alright?" said Sadie in a soft voice.

"What d'you care?" said Ginny fiercely.

"I – I do care," said Sadie, a little taken aback.

Harry thought he should stay out of it.

"Lucius Malfoy's bill didn't go through," said Ginny. "But they're talking about axing Dad's department anyway. Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office is a joke of a department."

"No, it's not," said Sadie. "Um… Muggle Artefacts… it's interesting." Harry supposed Sadie wished she had Hermione there to prompt her on something relevant to say about exactly how Muggle Artefacts were interesting.

Ginny snorted.

"You'd feel better if you'd come to Hogwarts Togetherness," said Sadie. "It's about helping everyone fit in."

Ginny looked askance at Sadie, then she looked at Harry and her freckled face flushed pink. She looked at Sadie again. "You're making this about your club? I don't want to be part of it."

"OK…" said Sadie. "Have you tried writing your worries down in a journal before you go to sleep? That might help."

"Of course I do that," snapped Ginny. "What did you think?"

"Oh," said Sadie, blinking. "Well that's good."


	8. Chapter 8

**Ministry of Magic**

* * *

_**Author's Note:** This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Susan aka Arsinoe de Blassenville. She was happy to allow me to use her fanfiction ideas, including her idea for a school trip of some kind to the Ministry. RIP Susie. It was hard letting you go._

* * *

"It's amazing how quickly it got done," Tracy remarked.

"When Auntie decides to do something, it gets done," said Susan Bones proudly.

"This is wonderful," Sadie enthused. "I want to thank her for doing all this for us. I'll make her a card."

"Just don't make one of your horrible bouquets," said Draco snidely, causing them all to laugh and Sadie to look at her feet.

It was the next meeting of the Togetherness Society. Susan had contacted her aunt, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement who had clearly turned her attention to it right away. They already had an itinerary for their visit. They would be excused from classes on Friday and Amelia Bones would guide them through the Ministry's underground complex to visit each department. The Minister for Magic himself would make time to greet them.

Dumbledore had said that Charity alone was not adequate chaperonage and he would not spare any other teachers that day, so the Charity had owled some of the parents to assist, and Morgana, the head girl, had volunteered too.

On Friday, they arrived in the Ministry's Atrium.

"Harry Potter," said Cornelius Fudge with his affected avuncular manner. Most of the kids had never visited the Ministry, and they gawped around at the high ceiling and the gawdy fountain of Magical Brethren. Sadie was holding both Lucas and Colin Creevey by the hand. Harry knew Sadie had been grateful that Lucas let her take care of him. Creevey was sort of the opposite. The pushy muggle-born had planted himself on her for the day. He was gazing around in awe. "Oh wow. Amazing."

Sadie smiled at him with the lips of her mask. "This is the Ministry, Colin. Um… our government sits underground."

"I wish my camera could take more than just a few pictures," said Creevey. "But this is just the 1990s."

Hermione frowned at the fountain. "That's a very patronising depiction of magical society…" she began. But Rita Skeeter arrived at that moment and shoved her aside to get photos of Harry, the Minister and Draco Malfoy. She shoved Sadie and her wards out of the way as well to get an unobstructed view of the Boy Who Lived.

Harry and Draco were actually allowed to peep into the Minister's Office. All shiny dark wood and soft, fragrant leather.

"I'd take that desk," said Draco, "but it should be carved from green marble."

"Your welcome to it," said Harry. He himself would far rather go back to live with his mother in their cave than be chained to that desk.

Next they visited the Department of Magical Sports and Games. "A whole department for sports!" said Hermione. "Professor Burbage was right. It's because the Ministry is the only major employer and needs to be really big."

"Bet you don't like it just because you can't fly," sniped Pansy.

"Girls… girls…" admonished Morgana.

To Harry's disappointment, the visit was pretty dull. Charts, graphs, but no playing sports. Not even Gobstones.

Next was the Department of International Magical Cooperation. Mr Crouch made it more interesting than Ludo Bagman had been able to. He showed them exotic magical artefacts and gifts from governments around the globe. He even had printed handouts, detailing the qualifications necessary for his department. Hermione greatly approved. Harry noticed Sadie narrowing her eyes through the holes in her mask and looking from Hermione and Mr Crouch and back again. Harry supposed that Hermione's personality was very similar to that of Mr Crouch, but what did that mean?

Mr Amos Diggory in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures seemed a very affable wizard. He was keen on talking about his Cedric with Susan and the other Hufflepuffs. Hermione nagged him about qualifications and he agreed to talk about them, although he hadn't got any handouts. He did have chocolate hinkypunks though, which most of the kids preferred, snatching and scoffing them on the spot.

"Thank you!" said Sadie, grinning, as she received her chocolate. Then she noticed the door they were passing and grimaced. The door had the carved words "Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."

Diggory hurried them past the door. "Walden's always too busy for visitors…" he said with a glassy smile.

"He uses an axe to execute beasts," said Draco. "Says magic is too antiseptic a method."

"I don't wanna think about it," said Sadie.

Next, they visited Cuthbert Mockridge in the Goblin Liaison Office and listened politely while he lectured them on the importance of maintaining good relations with the goblins. Harry was more interested in the Hag division. The pictures of green faces of different hags were comforting to see.

The Floo Network was not very interesting. They just heard stuff Harry already knew.

Mafalda Hopkirk in the Improper Use of Magic Office threatened horrors to rule breakers and warned them that underage witches and wizards had the Trace on them. The Trace could be used to tell if magic was done at a Muggle residence.

"That's so unfair," said Creevey. "It only affects Muggle-Borns."

"I know, dear. It is unfair," said Sadie in a soothing voice, squeezing his hand.

Next was the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. Arthur Weasley was the head of it. Actually he appeared to be its only member. Ron's Dad. Sadie beamed at him in her usual friendly way, but she was the only Slytherin in Harry's clique who did. The rest looked at him coldly. Awkward.

Morgana fixed them with her penetrating stare. "This goes to the heart of protecting the magical world from Muggles. Everyone pay attention."

"Thank you," said Arthur. He held up a bottle opener. "See this? This is a bottle opener. It's ingenious the ways in which Muggles overcome everyday problems without magic. Any bottlecap will come off."

He tried to open a butterbeer bottle with it, but couldn't. Morgana took over and successfully removed the bottle cap with the opener. "I approve," she said in her soft voice. "It's a more satisfying way of opening a bottle. More physical."

"You can tell she's a Black, even though she does like Muggles," murmured Draco.

"There are more menacing Muggle artefacts," said Morgana.

"Indeed, my dear. Look…" Arthur picked up a weird metal thing. "A revolver. A muggle wand that shoots lead pellets at a deadly speed."

Pansy scoffed. "Why not just dodge the pellets."

"They're much too fast," said Arthur. "This revolver is cursed to shoot out of the wrong end."

"OK, that would kill the shooter," said Creevey.

"So nice to have an expert about," said Arthur.

"Do many Muggles have these wands?" demanded Theo.

"They're not legal in this country, but Muggle criminals do have them," said Arthur.

* * *

00O00

At lunch, Harry sat with Sadie, her mentee and wannabe sidekick in the employee canteen. Lucas' sister Leo was with them and Hermione parked herself next to them as well.

"It's fascinating how alike and yet different Muggles and Magicals are," she said earnestly.

Sadie smiled at Hermione with the lips of her mask, but the others tuned her out. They wanted to get on with eating and not hear Hermione ramble on.

After she had finished, Hermione's interest was caught by a booth in the corner. "Ooh, look! A beauty booth!" she squealed.

Sadie looked over. "A human transfiguration booth. Only temporary. We don't learn how to do human transfiguration 'til sixth year. It wears off pretty quickly."

"I still want to try," said Hermione.

She went into the booth. They could hear her muffled voice within. "You can set the dial to maximum beauty…" There was a flash and Hermione squealed again. "Ooh, look!" She came out of the booth. She did look different. Really pretty. Her hair had turned golden and was now wavy and bouncy. She didn't have braces anymore, and her teeth her pearly white and even. She had a freckled nose and cheeks. Her cheeks were also delicately pink like a fox glove. Her face was very slightly differently shaped, too. Just different enough to make it symmetrical, like one of those faces photo-manipulated to be symmetrical.

"I put the dial on the statistically most beautiful face," she said excitedly. "Of course, blond hair is more likely to appear in an aesthetic archetype. And nine out of ten people with an opinion either way, now think a picturesque smattering of freckles is better than even skin tone… Wish this was permanent."

"You're a special person no matter how you look," said Sadie with a small smile.

Hermione sat beside her now looking a bit sad. "That goes for you even more. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know."

_That went for Sadie even more_… Harry cringed. Although well meaning, Hermione was not very sensitive. Fortunately, Sadie didn't seem to mind the allusion to her disfigured face.

* * *

00O00

After lunch they toured the entire Department of Magical Law Enforcement – the most important department after the Minister's own. They saw the holding cells and the evidence rooms.

Hermione followed Harry, Sadie and her sidekicks. She was still rejoicing about being temporarily prettified.

"The holding cells were in frequent use in the days of You Know Who," said Amelia.

The kids were allowed to mess about, playing at being held in the cells.

Hermione chattered at Sadie and the boys. "The politics of You Know Who don't make sense," she argued. "Why would people already in power become terrorists? What more could they gain this way?"

Tracy rolled her eyes and Pansy muttered something possibly about Muggle-Borns.

"The most hard-line pureblood supremacists used You Know Who as their front man," said Sadie. "Their children joined his movement, while they kept their hands clean. But You Know Who turned out to be bent on personal power and ready to do terrible things to get it. It didn't become obvious until his final year."

After that they went to the Obliviation Office.

"Now this is where I want to be," said Morgana.

One of the witches in the office had a picture of Lockhart on her desk.

Hermione ran up to the witch. "Do you know him?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes, my pretty one, I do," said the witch. "Used to work with me." She sighed. "Guess I wasn't his type though… he left the department to be a hero."

Harry wondered who Lockhart's type was exactly.

They toured the Hit Wizard Office. Hit Wizards wore orange robes. They were ordinary magical law enforcers. They were not entitled to use lethal force. They could however stun suspects.

"Spider-Man had a better kind of non-lethal force," Creevey told Sadie, thrusting a comic page at her. Sadie peered at it through the eye-holes in her mask and read aloud: "Using his scientific wizardry, Spider-Man invented a special kind of liquid webbing …" She paused. "Wait… Spider-Man is a wizard?"

Hermione scratched her freckled nose and glanced at the page. "No, that wasn't what it meant," she said.

"And Spider-Man has the coolest catch phrase ever," enthused Creevey. "With great power, comes great responsibility."

"I completely agree," said Sadie. "We're born with all this power and what does it go on? Quidditch, joke shops and absurd imitations of Muggle lower-middle class life."

Morgana came up to them. She had overheard Sadie. "Most witches and wizards are very ordinary people with the extraordinary gift of magic. Come, the Auror office is next."

The Aurors were the elite magical law enforcers.

The Head Auror, Rufus Scrimgeour looked like a lion. He explained the qualifications required in a cold, terse voice and then described the training programme. "Poisons and antidotes are an essential part of our curriculum," he said. "We must also know about the Dark Arts." Sadie gazed at him through the holes in her mask, interest clear in her blue eyes.

At that moment, there was a clunking sound and a terribly disfigured man hobbled in. He had a face that looked like it had been carved from weathered wood by someone with only the vaguest idea of what a human face might look like. One of his eyes was electric blue and swivelled around madly.

"Mad Eye Moody!" exclaimed Neville, then clapped his hands over his mouth.

Sadie was looking at Moody with tears in her blue eyes.

"Alastor!" said Madame Bones. "I was showing the Hogwarts students the Auror Office. You know my niece Susan of course. And you know of Harry Potter…"

Moody's wrecked face moved to form a grin. "Thinking of training to be an Auror, Mr Potter? The Aurors made me the man I am today."

"That's good to know," said Harry, fighting the urge to run for the door. Sadie took his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

* * *

00O00

Back at Hogwarts, Hermione was disappointed to find that the Transfiguration from the Beautifying Booth had worn off. Even her brace was back.

"You can shrink your teeth by magic," said Tracy. "Get Madame Pomfrey to do it."

"My Mum and Dad are dentists," said Hermione with a sigh. "They don't think teeth and magic should mix."

"Sounds cruel," said Pansy.

"No, they just don't know any different to how they're trained," demurred Sadie. "And that's because magical people hide in the shadows and won't help them."

"Oh, here we go. We don't need your lecture about this, Sadie," jeered Pansy.

"I think it's a very nice thought, even if it's not practical," said Hermione, patting Sadie's arm.

Harry and Sadie visited Cora again, shortly before curfew, at the time the hag had to scrub the toilets. Cora cupped her face in her hands as she listened to them tell her about the Ministry. Her green cheeks were glowing. "Sounds like you had a wonderful time, my dears. I've got news for you, too. I've been to Madame Pomfrey…" she shifted on her seat and then grinned. "Harry, you're going to have a baby brother or sister!"


	9. Chapter 9

**The Chamber is Opened**

Harry was dumbfounded. His mother was going to have a baby?!

"Ooh! Congratulations!" squealed Sadie, running forward and putting her little thin arms around Cora and pressing the lips of her mask against the hag's glowing cheek.

"Aww, thanks dearest," said Cora, putting an arm around the small girl.

"You look so radiant," said Sadie. "Pregnancy is so beautiful."

Cora's face really did look radiant in the candlelight. That must be part of being pregnant. Sadie would read about stuff like this when she wasn't devouring Dark Magic tomes.

But Harry had a disagreeable thought. "I don't have a dad… who's the baby's dad?"

"That wonderful Gilderoy Lockhart's the dad," said Cora, her blue eyes dreamy. "I suppose that makes him your Dad too, Harry."

"No!" Harry stepped back.

"For Darkness' sake, Harry," said Sadie, her masked face contorting into a frown. "A new life is a blessing."

Sadie was weird, but surely she should understand Harry's dismay at the idea of Lockhart being his Dad?

Harry didn't know exactly how to tell his mother the depth of his dismay, but he could take Sadie to task in the corridor as they went back to Slytherin House.

"This is awful! Lockhart as a Dad? Can't you see how bad that is?"

Sadie twirled a strand of her purple hair in her fingers. "I know it's not ideal. Lockhart's umm… well…" She shook her head. "But isn't it exciting to have a new brother or sister? Doesn't that matter more?"

"No," said Harry sullenly. "It's always been Mum and me."

"Aw," Sadie slipped her thin little arm in his. "But you'll see. It'll be great to be able to visit the baby. Can't wait to teach him or her about Dark Magic. Wish my Mum had read stuff like the Codex Mortis to me when I was a baby."

Harry rolled his eyes.

* * *

00O00

The next meeting of the Togetherness Society took place in the middle of October. Professor Burbage suggested they think of music by witches and wizards that the Muggles knew about.

"What about Scarborough Faire?" Pansy suggested. "It's about a wizard who needs to do well in school in order to win the love of his sweetheart."

"If you were the sweetheart, you'd be waiting a very long time," Theo said flippantly. "That wizard would be telling the Headmaster what to go do with himself just to keep from leaving school."

Pansy threw a withering glance at him. "Not that any witch would wait more than five minutes for _you _, Nott."

"Greensleeves?" Tracy made this suggestion. "It was composed by a queen, and it's just so romantic."

"Very romantic," Pansy agreed.

"Ooh, yes!" Hermione enthused. "It's a classic. Everyone knows it." She turned to Sadie. "Isn't it a beautiful melody?"

Sadie smiled back at her with the lips of her mask and nodded, her purple hair rippling and bouncing. "Beautiful," she agreed.

"Pfft. Sadie would prefer to hear something eerie," said Draco.

"Yeah, she's cool like that," said Colin Creevey who was sitting beside Sadie.

Sadie smiled at Colin with the lips of her mask.

"Which queen was this, that composed Greensleeves?" Harry asked.

"Anne Boleyn, the second queen of Henry the Eighth," Tracy told him. "She gave birth to only a girl child, so he had her head chopped off."

"An eminently suitable fate for Pansy," Theo interjected, then dodged another hex.

"That princess' name was Elizabeth Tudor," Tracy continued.

"Queen Elizabeth the First was a witch?" Harry was completely shocked.

"Of course. She attended Hogwarts, and she was a Slytherin just like her mother. How do you think she survived all those attempts on her life, if not by magic?" Tracy asked.

"She was the last witch queen to reign over England," Theo added. "She died in sixteen oh-three, the same year the Lord High Wizengamot proposed to break away from the Muggle world. The split wasn't finished until sixteen ninety-two, though, because of the revolutions."

"Why should we admire Elizabeth the first?" Draco sneered. "She didn't keep the books balanced."

"Draco's right," said Hermione nodding. "This created all kinds of financial troubles in the next century."

"Oh, show a little magical pride, without going on about dreary finacnes," said Pansy. "You both let your mouths speak without consulting your brains first. That's something you both have in common."

"I do not," said Draco indignantly, poking Pansy who thumped him back.

"Guys…" said Sadie, holding up her hands.

"Play nicely, children," said Professor Charity Burbage. "Think of what you could do for a talent night. A way of displaying the magical arts without quarrelling about finances."

"Like a play?" said Draco.

"It's an idea," said Tracy. "We could act a basic wizarding story. Like one of the tales of Beedle the Bard."

"I'm not doing Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump!" said Theo.

Colin Creevey snorted with laughter, but no one else did. "Wait, is that seriously a title? Weird."

Sadie shrugged. "Yeah, it does sound like an author landed herself with a silly title and then was stuck trying to make some sort of story to fit it with after the fact." She took Chip from the sling she carried him in and began to feed him from a potion bottle.

"The Tale of the Three Brothers is a good one," said Theo. "It had heavy themes, but it's nice and simple. Has a good message."

"Good message?" scoffed Draco. "The brother who we're supposed to admire is the one who sits under a cloak and does nothing else. Are we supposed to think that inactivity is a virtue? Now the Tale of the Grieving Ghost is something. Why can't we act that?"

"Now, now," said Charity. "That one gets too frightening."

"The grieving ghost swallows the three witches," said Draco with relish. "But can't digest them, so they pass through the ghost's bowels. How would you like that, girls?" Draco leered around at the girls. "Passing through the bowels of a huge, wailing ghost?"

Pansy made a rude gesture at him.

"You're so uncouth, Draco," said Tracy with superb disdain.

"Just don't talk to me Draco," said Daphne.

"You're gross," said Millie, laughing.

"Sounds awful," said Hermione, blinking. "Passing through the poor things bowels…?"

"I think it sounds kind of exciting," said Sadie, shifting a little in her seat and looking a little embarrassed.

"Unbelievable!" said Pansy, shaking her head.

"There's something wrong with that story, though," said Sadie. "They should have found out why the ghost was grieving and helped. I want to be part of that story."

"Well I say the Tale of the Three Brothers is a better idea," said Theo, smirking. "That's the one we should do."

Which one would they do?

* * *

00O00

Halloween arrived and it was nearly time for the feast. Draco quietly scratched away on a sheet of parchment.

"I'll see you at the feast," he said, breaking his hours long silence. "I've got to go up to the Owlery."

"Do we have to go with you?" Crabbe asked him.

"And hear you groan about missing out on the food?" Draco joked lightly. "I'd never dream of getting between you and a meal."

Crabbe glowered.

"I'll be back before you know it," Draco promised. He pulled his cloak around his shoulders and left through the wall.

"Was that a promise or a threat?" Daphne snickered.

"Threat, I think," Millie replied, smirking.

"He's a prat sometimes, but he's not so bad," Pansy spoke up.

"I think you're biased," Daphne pointed out. "Aren't you two supposed to be engaged?"

Pansy made a face. "It's not formal and thank Merlin for that. Our parents just sort of expect that we'll fall in love and get married. I know they want it more than Draco and I do."

"So… do you have to get married or not?" asked Harry, puzzled. "Shouldn't it matter if you want to or not?"

"There are ways round that, you know," said Pansy tersely.

"How?" said Harry.

"You really know nothing," said Pansy, shaking her head.

"Pansy. Please…" said Sadie. "Harry, in pureblood tradition there are ways round it if um… if two purebloods have an arranged marriage and they don't love each other. My Mum and Dad … um … voluntarily took love potions together so they could get under a love spell and get together to make me."

"You're not supposed to talk about stuff like this," said Pansy. "You're so crass."

"Shut up, Pansy," said Tracy, glaring at Pansy and putting an arm around Sadie's shoulders. "Sadie's trying to help Harry understand. You could stand to be more helpful."

Pansy sneered at Tracy.

"Mum and Dad wanted to continue the pureblood caste," said Sadie. "But they weren't really right for each other, and in the end they had to separate."

"Depressing," said Harry.

Sadie patted his arm.

"Sorry," said Harry, realising he was talking about how she was conceived as being depressing.

"It's OK, dear," said Sadie softly.

Millie shrugged. "Anyway, we'd better get to the feast."

The Great Hall had been decorated even more extravagantly than it had for last year's Halloween Feast. The usual black bats were present, a thousand in number. Orange and black streamers were strung up everywhere, swirling gently in the air currents. Hagrid had been raising huge pumpkins in the patch outside the castle, and now they were big enough to seat three men comfortably. Some had been carved into lanterns and were hung up in the sky, but others sat on the floor, and various games were set up for after the meal.

"You've done wonderful work with the pumpkins, Hagrid!" called Sadie in her shrill voice, waving to Hagrid.

Hagrid gave her the double thumbs up.

Golden plates sat on the tables, brightly burning candles filled the hall with a golden glow, and Lockhart wore golden robes that made him look even dumber than normal. To think Cora expected him to become Harry's Dad! Dumbledore stood at the centre of the High Table, waiting for students to finish arriving.

"Welcome to our Halloween Feast," he announced. "I would like to introduce the Dancing Dead, who will be entertaining us throughout the meal."

As the students applauded, the rumours that had been flying around the school proved true. The skeleton troupe clattered through the door. A small orchestra followed and settled into the giant pumpkins that were on the floor.

"This is no time for speeches, so eat, drink, and be merry!" The food appeared on the plates, and Crabbe was the first to dig right in. Harry set about filling his plate. The Hogwarts feasts were second to none.

"There's the minimum number of skeletons," said Theo. "It's a skeleton troupe!"

Pansy groaned at him.

"Where's Draco?" Harry asked.

Nobody had seen him arrive.

"Probably dawdling," Theo said knowingly.

The skeletons danced all around the hall, between the tables, and even grabbed students up to join them in their merriment. One made an attempt to grab Professor Snape as he rose suddenly and strode from the hall, but he backed it off with a snarl and a scowl.

Harry had just begun to take second helpings when he saw Professor Dumbledore also rise and disappear through a side door. He didn't get a chance to wonder at it though, as a skeleton grabbed his arm, and he was pulled into a dance.

The other Slytherins pointed and laughed, except for Sadie who stood up and joined the dance, in an awkward quickstep, catching Harry's other hand. "Dance of the Living Dead," she called, a bit breathlessly as she danced. "Should be Dance of the Resurrecting dead."

They were quite breathless when they were finally released. Harry gulped pumpkin juice gratefully. "Your turn, Draco," Harry said, trying to smother his laughter. He got no answer.

"Yeah, Draco, dance with me!" said Sadie. "Hey… where is he?"

"Yes, where is he?" Harry asked again.

Nobody knew where Draco was.

"This isn't right," Theo observed. "He'd never miss the feast."

Just then, Sam Palce, the sixth year prefect sat down nearby, next to Jamie, Tracy's sister. "Guess what I just saw, Jamie." The blonde girl turned to him.

Palce was smiling. "I just saw Percy Weasley getting dragged down the corridor by Snape, and Snape looked livid."

One of the skeletons bounced over and grabbed her by the arm. It tried to tug her to her feet, but Jamie was having no part of it. She jerked her arm away roughly. The skeleton made another grab, but Jamie had clearly been pushed far enough. She drew her wand and pointed it at the dancer. "_ Immobulus! _" she snarled.

Blue light flashed from the tip of her wand and struck the skeleton direct in the face. It stopped moving instantly. She turned to Derrick. "Get this _thing _away from me."

The burly boy jumped right up. He grabbed the skeleton by the neck and hauled it off to the edge of the hall.

"Of all the Weasleys to get in trouble," Daphne marvelled to Harry.

"Who would think it was the prefect?" Harry agreed. He glanced over at the Gryffindor table. "Hey, speaking of Weasleys, where are those prats?"

Sure enough, there was no Weasley head of vivid red hair to be seen at the red and gold table.

"Maybe they're all in trouble," Pansy suggested.

"Have Gryffindor been losing points?" Millie asked.

They all looked at the big hourglasses that proclaimed the House points.

"Not yet," Theo answered, "but if Snape was dragging off a prefect, it's only a matter of time."

That thought was satisfying to them all.

In due course, the students all finished their dinner and started in on pudding. The treacle tart seemed to be calling Harry's name. He took a great spoonful of the stuff and passed the bowl on.

Lockhart stood up at that point to tell one of his many tales. Harry wondered if anyone would care were he to grab the pompous professor and hold his head under the water in one of the round wooden tubs set up to bob for apples. To think he would soon have no respite from this!

"If I mussed his hair, Lockhart would drown _me _," Harry grumbled, not realizing until Daphne started giggling that he'd spoken aloud.

"Look, there's Snape," Tracy pointed out.

The Head of Slytherin House entered via the same side door that Professor Dumbledore had left by and returned to the High Table. Surprisingly, he did not sit, but went immediately to Professor McGonagall and leaned down to whisper in her ear. She immediately pursed her lips and stood abruptly and hurried from the hall.

Something was going on. Where was Draco? Where were the Weasleys? Where had Snape been? Where was Dumbledore, and where had old McGonagall gone to?

He clutched Sadie by the hand and held onto Theo as the students filed out. Fighting through the rush, they went up to the High Table. "Professor Snape?"

The man nodded. "Ah, there you are. I was about to come find you. Mister Malfoy is in the hospital wing."

Harry gasped.

"Noo!" cried Sadie.

"What for?" Theo demanded.

"He was ambushed by the collective Weasleys," Snape informed them.

Sadie groaned and covered her disfigured face with her hands.

"Thankfully, he will recover under Madam Pomfrey's care," said Snape, "but he is very hurt. I have no time to deal with questions now, but I shall come to the common room before ten. Excuse me."

"Poor Draco," Harry commented, as Snape hurried off.

Tears shone in Sadie's blue eyes. "He'd better be alright," she said, her voice trembling.

"Poor Weasleys, by the time Snape gets through with them," said Theo. "And that'll be nothing compared to what Draco's father is going to do."

Harry winced. "You're right," was all he said.

"All this stupid, stupid fighting," said Sadie in a choked voice. "And what's it all for? Is Hogwarts Togetherness all for nothing."

"You're only saying that 'cause you're upset," said Harry, patting her on the back.

They would likely never get in to see Draco, but Harry the three of them decided to try anyway. As they climbed up the steps to the second floor, Harry came to a dead stop.

_"...rip...tear...kill..." _

It was the same cold voice, the same spine-shivering, murderous voice he had heard in Lockhart's office.

"What is it?" asked Sadie, catching hold of his hands.

Harry shushed her. "Listen!" He stared around wildly, trying to pinpoint the source.

_"...so hungry..." _

"The voice!" Harry whispered. "I heard it again! Come on!"

It was moving, he was sure of it. The chilling whisper was growing fainter. He craned his neck, trying to follow.

_"...kill...time to kill..." _

It _was _moving. Upwards! How could that be? Did this voice belong to a phantom to whom stone ceilings didn't matter? A mixture of fear and excitement gripped him. He clutched Sadie's hand, grabbed Theo's sleeve and pulled them up the stairs.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Theo tried to reason with him.

"Can't you hear it?" Harry demanded.

From the floor above, he could hear the sibilant voice faintly. _"Blood...I smell blood...I SMELL BLOOD!" _

Harry's stomach lurched. "It's going to kill someone!" he shouted, and he ran.

Despite his apparent bewilderment, Theo's footfalls and Sadie's lighter ones pounded alongside Harry's own as they ran down the halls. They turned the last corner, into an empty, deserted passage.

"Harry, what's going _on _?" Theo gasped.

"Harry…" said Sadie, but she was too breathless to get the words out. Her short legs had to work harder to run alongside them.

"Look!" Harry cried, pointing down the hallway.

Something was shining on the wall ahead. They approached slowly, squinting through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the wall between two windows, shimmering red in the light cast by the flaming torches.

**THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED**

**ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE**

Theo's jaw dropped. "W-what's that thing? There, hanging underneath?" His voice was quavering.

Sadie groaned. "I think I know."

Together they edged nearer, and Harry almost slipped in the puddle of water on the floor. Theo grabbed him to prevent him from falling, and they inched ever closer. Their eyes were fixed on the dark shadow beneath the bloody message. As one, they came to comprehension, and they fell back, landing in the puddle with a splash.

Mrs. Norris, the pet cat of the caretaker, Argus Filch, was hanging by her tail from the torch bracket. She was stiff as a board, her eyes wide and staring.

For a few seconds, they couldn't move. Then Theo scrambled to his feet and pulled Harry up as well. "We've got to get out of here," he said shortly.

"We may be able to help," said Sadie. "Dark Magic did this. It can undo it."

"No," Theo insisted, pulling him down the hall. "We don't want to be found here."

They ran from the hall as fast as they could. Down the polished marble steps they ran at breakneck speeds. It wasn't until they reached the entrance hall and nearly collided with Mr. Malfoy that they stopped.

"What's all this about?" he asked. His silver cane was tucked into the belt of his robes, and he held a broom in his hands. He had clearly just arrived in the castle.

"Missus Norris!" Harry gasped. "Dead! Writing on the wall!"

"'Enemies of the Heir beware!'" Theo wheezed. "'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened!'"

Sadie was still gasping and clutching her chest.

Mr. Malfoy's expression, which had been curious, turned very serious indeed. "Say nothing of this," he ordered them. "Tell no one. Were you seen?"

"No," they said together.

"You must have a clear alibi. Come with me to the hospital wing. I have only just learned that Draco has been assaulted."

"Weasleys," Harry said as he gulped air, struggling to calm his pounding heart. "They attacked him during the feast. We heard that Snape dragged off Percy earlier. He must have been in on it."

Mr. Malfoy's expression darkened even further. "There will be a reckoning."

There was too much going on for Harry to comprehend it all. Draco was hurt, Mrs. Norris was dead, and the Chamber of Secrets, whatever that was, had been opened. He had to practically run in order to keep up with Mr. Malfoy's long strides.

"Mister Malfoy, good, you're here," Madam Pomfrey said as they walked through the door. "Draco is resting comfortably." She looked at the trio. "You three are not permitted at this time. Back to your common room. At once."

"Good Evening," Mr. Malfoy said to them. "I shall be in touch."

Dismissed, Harry, Sadie and Theo shuffled out into the corridor. It must be pretty serious if they weren't allowed to see him. Harry hoped Draco would be okay. His first wizarding friend had to pull through, he just had to.

"Potter, Nott, McIntyre where are you coming from?" Professor Snape's voice sounded ragged, as though he had been dealt one too many unpleasant surprises that day.

"Hospital wing," Theo answered. "Madam wouldn't let us see Draco."

"Certainly not," Snape observed. "Malfoy has been seriously hurt. I was on my way up to meet Lucius in the entrance hall."

"Lucius is already here, sir," Harry told his head. "We brought him to the hospital wing."

"Get back to the Common Room," said Snape.

The three of them trudged back down the stairs.

"Harry, what was that about hearing voices?" said Theo. "That isn't a good sign. Even in the Wizarding World."

Sadie turned her face to Harry and put a finger to the lips of her mask.

Sadie thought he shouldn't talk to Theo about it? Why?


	10. Chapter 10

**Myths, Masks and Monsters**

In the Slytherin common room, Crabbe, Goyle, and the girls were seated comfortably before the roaring fireplace talking. Harry and Sadie sank into one of the numerous beanbag chairs. Harry put an arm around Sadie. Theo shifted on his feet.

"Where have you two been?" Crabbe asked. "Pinching extra desserts?"

"We found out where Draco is," Theo answered.

"Where is the git?" Pansy sounded unconcerned.

"He's in the hospital wing," Harry told her. Suddenly everyone started talking at once and Harry couldn't hear himself think.

Sadie held up her little hands. "Guys… please…"

"Shut up, pillocks!" said Theo.

The hubbub subsided. Harry could speak. "Remember how all the Weasleys were nowhere to be found during the feast? Well it turns out they ambushed Draco. He's laying in the hospital wing fighting for his life!"

Tracy clapped her hands to her face and gave a theatrical gasp. "Is it bad then?"

Sadie sniffed and nodded.

"Well, Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let us see him," Theo said. "Which could mean that he's hurt pretty bad, or it could just be that she wanted us out so Draco's father could visit him."

Pansy perked up. "Mister Malfoy is here?"

"We ran into him in the entrance hall," Theo explained.

"What were you bold, bright sparks running from?" Daphne giggled. She pushed her blonde hair back and made a face at them.

Harry gave Theo a significant look, which Theo returned. Sadie touched a finger to the lips of her mask. A rather conspicuous gesture. Mr. Malfoy's warning to remain silent about what they had seen was firmly in their minds. "Better get to the boys dorm," said Harry.

"Yeah, me too," Theo agreed. "And so do you two," he told Crabbe and Goyle.

"We do?"

"Yes, you do," Harry answered. "Boys only so… Oh never mind that, come on Sadie." He took her by the hand.

"Hey, get back here!" Pansy protested as the quintet hightailed it for the boys dorm. The other girls followed suit and marched in through the door of the boys' dorm.

"What in Circe's name was that about?" Pansy demanded as she stormed in.

"Close the door, Millie," Theo requested, "and lock it."

"Should we put up a Silencing Charm?" Harry asked.

"I think we ought to," Theo agreed.

"Will you morons stop with all the secrecy and just tell us what's going on?" Pansy snapped, flouncing down on Theo's bed.

"Off of my bed, witch!" he growled. She ignored him.

Harry grimaced as he wondered what to tell them all. "We found Missus Norris. Dead."

"Cursed with Dark Magic, not dead," said Sadie.

The room exploded with exclamations of surprise. Pansy called down a blessing on the perpetrator, and Harry could understand why. Nobody liked that evil cat. She'd have you in trouble with Filch faster than you could blink. Was she Filch's familiar? Their magical system was so incoherent that the topic of familiars was pretty mysterious.

"That's not all," Theo interjected. "There was a message written in blood or red paint on the wall. It said, 'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir beware.'"

"Heir of whaaat?" Goyle wanted to know.

"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" Tracy queried.

"We don't know," Harry shook his head. "We told Mister Malfoy, but he said not to say a word about it."

"That's odd," Daphne said, chewing on a lock of hair.

"I want to find out what's going on." Harry didn't understand, but this phantom voice had already killed once. It might do so again, and it seemed that only Harry could hear it.

"We should stay out of it," said Millie firmly. "Someone killed Missus Norris! Sick."

"We can give him a medal for that later," said Theo smirking. "If Filch and those like him are the Heir's enemies, I'm fine with it."

A knocking at the door interrupted any further discussion. Millie uncharmed the lock and opened it. Morgana Black the Head Girl swept inside, gazing round at them with her hooded eyes. Light glinted off the silver Head Girl badge she wore.

"Professor Snape wants to see everyone in the common room, right now," she said.

"Gee, like we don't know what _this _is about," Daphne grumbled.

Morgana's gaze lingered on her and she quailed a little.

In the Common Room, Snape addressed the Slytherins:

"I have two announcements. First of all, earlier this evening, Draco Malfoy was attacked and beaten." He was forced to pause as angry shouting broke out. "The culprits have been apprehended and are being dealt with," Snape assured them, placing emphasis on the last two words. "Prefect Weasley of Gryffindor managed to keep the scene from turning to tragedy, and Malfoy is resting comfortably in the hospital wing.

"My second announcement is that there has been an attack made on Missus Norris, Caretaker Filch's cat," Snape continued. "She has been petrified."

Harry was stunned. Sadie was right. The cat was just afflicted with Dark Magic, not dead. Just as well Sadie was never one to gloat and say 'I told you so.'

"A message was left on the wall, written in blood, proclaiming that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened. An Heir, which the faculty have surmised to mean the Heir of _Slytherin_," he said the word slowly, "has claimed responsibility If any of you knows anything, I ask that you come to me in private. So that you might protect yourselves, I ask that you not get caught up in speculation. If the Heir has truly come to Hogwarts, you do not want to get involved."

00O00

The next morning at breakfast, one topic of conversation dominated the Hogwarts grapevine. The story of the Chamber of Secrets being opened fell by the wayside in the wake of Draco's assault.

New details were heard from the Gryffindors via the Ravenclaws that not all of the Weasleys had participated. It turned out that Percy the Prefect, well-known for being a stickler for the rules, had not only nabbed his siblings in the act, but had rounded the four up and turned them over to Snape. This caused great discord in Gryffindor.

One outcome the loss of five hundred points from Gryffindor. The twins were assumed to be the ringleaders and lost two hundred points each. Ron and Ginny both lost fifty points. The Gryffindor hourglass in the entrance hall had a pile of black onyx gems in the bottom bulb - negative points. Furthermore, Fred and George, the twin Beaters, had admitted to casting a Dark spell on Draco and were struck off the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Harry was elated at that news. Those two were deadly with a Bludger when it counted. With less than a week to go before the first match of the season, Gryffindor didn't stand a chance now. Flint went over to thank Percy over and over again and praise him to the sky.

There were no classes, being that it was Sunday, and with no homework to do, Harry and Sadie wanted to visit Draco. Madam Pomfrey was having none of it.

"I can help him!" protested Sadie.

"No, McIntyre, Malfoy doesn't need your kind of mishaps on top of the ones he's already received," said the Matron drily.

After lunch and before Transfiguration on Monday, Harry and the others rushed up to the hospital wing, laden down with book bags as they were, to visit Draco again. Madam Pomfrey took one cold look at them and peremptorily ordered them all out again.

"Mister Malfoy needs _rest_, and he cannot get it if entire gaggles of noisy kids insist on gawping at him."

Appeals did not move her, and Harry wisely prevented Pansy from making any threats. Disappointed, they had no choice but to leave.

The next day, Draco finally came out of his induced coma. During the free period before lunch, Harry and Sadie had passed on heading back to the dungeons to shower after Herbology. Playing a hunch, he detoured up to the hospital wing.

"Madam?" said Harry, pushing open the door.

A cough from the bed drew their attention.

"Draco!" he exclaimed. "Gosh, you look weak as a limp eel!"

"You're too kind," Draco rejoindered.

"Aw, Draco, how are you?" Sadie's disfigured face moved to form a wide grin and she flung her arms around him. "I was so worried."

"Yeah, yeah," said Draco, shrugging her off. "What day is it?"

"Tuesday." Said Harry.

Draco arched one eyebrow. "I appear to have missed a few things. Catch me up?"

Harry and Sadie both began to explain at once. Draco held up a hand. "Just one, don't babble together or I won't hear anything. Harry, you explain."

Harry did, quickly and succinctly.

"So I wasn't hallucinating when I thought I saw Percy that night," Draco said half to himself. For purposes of the story, they had used the Weasleys given names. Saying 'Weasley' over and over again would be confusing.

"No, he's the one who stopped everything and reported the incident," Harry reiterated.

"Yes! Thank the Darkness," said Sadie, giving a sigh of relief.

"Bring him to me," Draco suddenly requested.

Harry jumped. "What?"

"Go find Percy Weasley; tell him I want to see him."

This made little sense. "Why?"

"To thank him of course," said Sadie with a smile.

"Yes, I may owe the great pillock my life," said Draco.

It was simple for them to find Percy. During lunch, the red-haired prefect was sitting all by himself at the Gryffindor table. That was odd. Harry could have sworn that the git had _some _friends. He glanced over at the Gryffindor hourglasses.

_Then again, maybe not. _

Sadie and Harry looked at each other and came to an unspoken agreement.

"Goyle," Harry said, to get the dopey boy's attention.

"Yeah?" Goyle had half a sandwich stuffed into his mouth. He washed it down with a glass of milk before swallowing the other half.

"We're taking a walk," Harry said. "You and Crabbe come too."

"I'm eating!" Crabbe protested around a mouthful.

"Chew with your mouth closed," Pansy admonished him. "You're so crass."

"Eat later," Harry told him.

The sensation of having two hulking bodyguards hovering just behind him was very comforting for Harry as he walked across the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table. Without ceremony, Harry sat himself down across from the prefect, who was reading a book. Sadie slipped onto a seat beside him.

"Weasley, can I talk to you for a minute?" Harry asked. He might as well try to keep this civil.

"Yes, what is it, Potter?"

Well, at least it was a response. "Draco asked me to come find you and bring you up to the hospital wing."

Weasley's head came up sharply. "Malfoy is awake?"

"Yes."

"Thank Merlin," he sighed, "and thank you for telling me." He made no move to rise.

Harry was not about to be put off that easily. "He wants to see you," he pressed.

Weasley's eyes flashed. "Patience, Potter; it is a virtue. Malfoy isn't going anywhere soon, and I'll see him after I finish my lunch."

"It's wonderful, how heroic you were!" Sadie gushed. "That's what I call real courage. A true Gryffindor. Not like those Gryffindors in books who bravely pile on the odds four to one and live by third grade logic and schoolyard morality."

"A Slytherin knows best about true Gryffindors, McIntyre?" said Percy.

"I do know about courage. And being a hero," said Sadie.

Harry thought he should acknowledge Percy's heroism too, although it was a struggle to get the words out. "Yes. Turns out you were pretty heroic. Thanks."

Weasley's cheeks coloured slightly. "Thank you, Potter." He ate the last bite of his sandwich and put his book away. "Good day to you."

00O00

Lucas' sleep was troubled tonight. It was the witching hour and he had the sensation that he was not alone. His eyes flickered open. It didn't come as a surprise that Sadie was sitting on his bed, wrapped in her purple cloak. She was brushing her long purple hair with an ebony brush. Odd that she still took an interest in her appearance despite her disfigurement.

She turned her head to grin at him. "Hey darling. Just wanted to check on you. There's been so much trouble and weirdness lately. More than… Well… not more than ever."

"I'm fine," said Lucas. "Just disappointed that I can't make the Quidditch team."

Sadie tutted and leaned forward so that her green nose was almost touching him. "I'm not. Didn't you consider how I'd feel about you getting Bludgers knocked at you?"

"You're making it about you?" murmured Lucas.

She glared, her blue eyes glinting though the holes in her melted doll face.

.Best not tick her off. Sadie had never been angry before, but you know the adage, 'beware the nice ones.'

"Sorry," he amended.

Sadie smiled and drew a little round bottle from the folds of her cloak. "A little moisturiser," she said. "Make sure you stay radiant forever."

She dabbed some onto his face. "You're so sweet," she said fondly.

Lucas' stomach lurched when he was a weird shape move at the end of the bed with jerky, twitchy motions. It was that horrible purple thing that Sadie carried around, but now it had grown feet and was walking.

"Oh, Chip's growing," said Sadie laughing. "Isn't he cute?"

Lucas jumped as something else tugged at the bed curtains. It was Colin Creevey from Gryffindor House! Had Sadie decided to have a bizarre slumber party on Lucas' bed? Lucas's dreams were not as weird as this.

"Alright, Sadie?" said Colin.

The lips of Sadie's mask set in disapproval. "What in the name of Darkness are you doing down here, hm?"

"Just thought I'd come to see you. And the risk makes it fun."

Sadie shook her head. "Taking pointless risks is the wrong end of courage. Real courage is being like Percy Weasley."

"I knew you'd say something weird!" said Colin in triumph. "You always do!"

"I'm really mad at you right now, Colin," said Sadie. "If anyone else found you trespassing…!"

"Yeah. Gryffindor and Muggle Born trespassing. I can see a lot of them liking that," said Lucas. "You're putting your life on the line, Creevey."

"You could make me ill, the way you carry on," said Sadie.

"I wanna know about the Chamber of Secrets," said Colin. "All these rumours… but if anyone knows about Dark stuff, it'll be you."

Sadie's mask of a face was impassive. "The Chamber of Secrets is a legend. Just a legend, I think, but one so awful that just the knowledge of it would bring danger to those I love." She tapped Colin on the nose. "Including you."

"But you know the legend?" said Creevey.

"I don't even wanna talk about it," said Sadie, her masked face contorting in a grimace. "You don't get to hear any stories tonight. If we're lucky, I may be able to smuggle you out of here."

They left at this point, leaving Lucas in peace.

00O00

It was History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs. Draco was making trouble. Quirrell was now the History of Magic teacher since Sadie had cured him of Voldemort and he had lost his powers as a side effect. It had all been hushed up of course. Sadie and Harry were the only kids who knew the truth. Draco didn't conceal his dissatisfaction with Quirrell as a teacher.

"What did you mark me down for?" he demanded. "You gave Sadie full marks and I know for a fact she wrote a nonsensical essay."

"Draco! Can't you behave for once?" said Sadie.

"Ha ha! I doubt he can," said Theo.

"McIntyre wrote a fresh and interesting perspective on the Wamphyri conspiracy," said Quirrell. "That the Wamphyri goal to conquer death was wrong because it was self-serving and they did not intend to share it."

"So she's a loon who thinks everyone should be immortal wamphyrs, or what?" said Draco. "What're you indulging her for? Why's she your pet pupil?"

"Draco! Shut up!" said Tracy angrily.

It was true that Quirrell always gave Sadie high marks and tended to mark Draco down. Favouritism to Sadie and impartiality towards Draco then?

Hannah Abbott put up her hand. "Um, Sir… Sorry to interrupt, but we were wondering if you could tell us about the Chamber of Secrets."

Sadie shook her green and purple head on hearing that, but Quirrell considered.

"The myth of the Chamber of Secrets. Alright. A brief recap won't hurt. Hogwarts a History tells you that Hogwarts was founded in Medieval times – the precise date is uncertain – as a refuge where those with the unique gift of magic could find shelter, understanding and training to use their powers without hurting themselves. Three of the Founders intended to keep numbers up, but admitting students from Muggle Households. But one, Salazar Slytherin, preferred the isolationist approach of keeping it all in the Wizarding families. After a falling out with his former friend, Godric Gryffindor, Slytherin left the school."

"Boring!" said Draco. "You're just picking on our house's founder."

"Shut up, Draco!" chorused the others.

"This is fact," said Quirrell. "The legend is that Slytherin built a secret chamber in Hogwarts and left a monster inside that could only be released when Slytherin's true Heir returned to Hogwarts to purge the school of those unworthy of learning magic."

Sadie grimaced at this. Harry noticed Theo's mouth twitching to form a half-smile.

"It is a myth," said Quirrell. "And rather a nasty one. If anyone has been putting rumours about that the Chamber has been opened, it is a hoax."

00O00

In Potions, they awaited the arrival of Professor Snape, Harry took the time to glare at Weasley. He wanted Weasley to say something, to make a move. Oh the satisfaction he would get from using Weasley's tongue to clean the floor. The continued presence of him and the twins, in light of what they had done to Draco, was a gross insult to Slytherin House. How they had not been expelled proved Dumbledore favoured them.

Even Sadie looked angrily at Weasley, before sniffing and pointedly looking away.

Today's class would be a double session, and they would be brewing the Deflating Draught.

Snape arrived and theatrically slammed the door behind him. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he demanded. "You know what we're doing today. Snap to it!"

As they began bustling, Harry went back to the cabinet that held the student supplies. They were out of wormwood. "Professor?" he said. "There's no wormwood in the cupboard."

Snape looked grim. "Weasley," he called out, a warning plain to hear. "Why is there no wormwood in the student stores?"

Weasley, who had been talking with Neville Longbottom, looked up like a deer caught in a spotlight. He visibly swallowed. "Sorry…" he said. He practically ran out of the room.

Harry was confused. Since when was Weasley Snape's drudge? He turned to Parvati Patil, who was also retrieving some ingredients. "Oi, Patil. What's that about?"

Patil looked at him quizzically. "You haven't heard? Not only did the Weasley's loose five hundred points, the twins got kicked of the Quidditch team and the younger ones got three months detention.

"Detention," Harry repeated. "With Snape?" he guessed.

"Yes, he has to set up the lab every morning, clean everything up at night." Parvati glared at the git as he hurried back with the wormwood. He avoided her gaze and went quickly back to his own workbench.

"I wish they'd just expelled him," she complained. "Then we might actually have a chance at the House Cup this year. Well, back to it."

Once they knew that Weasley was Snape's new drudge, the Slytherins immediately went to raid the student supplies. Why bother using their own ingredients when they could make Weasley fetch more?

"Oh, Professor!" Tracy called out in her voice of feigned innocence. There were no more nettles. Snape sent Weasley out to get more. In short order, they ran out of daisy roots and grasshoppers as well. Each time, Weasley had to leave off his own work and run down to storage.

When the end of the period arrived, everyone was able to turn in a finished product except for Weasley. He was still frantically trying to get the solution to turn yellow as Snape made his rounds.

The frown on Snape's face was worth a thousand insults. "Not finished, Weasley?" he asked. "Well, I suppose you'll just have to try again," he said. "_ After _you clean up the place." Levitating the cauldron with a flick of his wand and a whisper, Snape sent it to the sink, where it tipped over, pouring out the unfinished contents.

Weasley's face sank. "Yes, sir," he muttered. He fetched a sponge and bucket from under the sink and began to prepare for his detention.

Harry was in high spirits as they left the classroom. "Who's for Quidditch?"


	11. Chapter 11

**Life, Death, and Greater Things**

It was Talent Night for the Togetherness Society which took place in the Minor Hall, near the Great Hall. The lights dimmed.

"Good luck, everyone!" said Sadie.

"Break legs!" said Hermione.

Sadie blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's a funny Muggle theatre saying," said Hermione. "Means good luck."

Sadie grinned. "Oh! Great."

Soon it was time to begin.

Susan Bones, her red hair in a long plait, stepped onto the side of the stage and announced in a clear voice, "The Tale of the Three Brothers." She began to read: "There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight."

The curtains slide open to reveal Theo Finch-Fletchley, Sadie and Harry strolled out of the wings. Harry and Theo were in student robes, but Sadie was in her purple hooded cloak. A thick mist rose, creating a mysterious scene.

"Look! A river!" cried Theo theatrically, to sniggers from the audience.

"What shall we do?" said Harry.

"Don't panic, guys," said Sadie. "Building Bridges is what we do."

They pointed at the centre of the stage with their wands and cried "Pontus." And in a shower of greenish yellow and purple sparks, a little bridge appeared on stage. The spell was actually cast by Professor Charity Burbage behind the curtains, but it looked like the trio did it. Since Draco was still in the Hospital Wing, Theo was filling in for him.

Out of a mist on the other side of the stage, a figure emerged. A hooded black figure with a dead white face. It was Tracy with face paint on. "I am… DEATH!" she pronounced.

Nervous giggles from the audience.

In a sickeningly affected sweet voice, Tracy addressed the trio. "I congratulate you, mighty spell casters. Lesser beings drown in that stream, but you have proven yourselves too powerful for me. Name your prize. All three of you."

"Give me an unbeatable wand, befitting of he who has conquered Death!" said Theo.

Tracy handed him a stick, fluttering her eyelashes. "Here. This wand will never fail its true master."

Sadie spoke next. "Give the power to revive the dead." Her voice was trembling with emotion.

"Take this stone," said Tracy. "It has the power you seek. I hope it will satisfy you. I can make no guarantees."

Tracy cupped Harry's face in her slender hands. "And you my boy. Name your prize."

"Oh my…" said Harry weakly. "Give me a way to hide from YOU!"

"Hmph," said Tracy. She removed her cloak and gave it to Harry. "My Invisibility Cloak."

"Thank you," said Harry.

The curtain lowered and Susan read on:

"In due course, the brothers separated, each for his own destination. The eldest travelled to a distant village."

Theo swaggered onto the stage. "I have an unbeatable wand," he bragged. "Come and get it if you dare!"

But then he lay down and pretended to sleep. A hand poked through the curtain and made a cutting motion near Theo's throat, then took away the wand."

"And so Death claimed the first brother for his own," said Susan. The curtain fell. "Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home where he lived alone."

The curtain opened on a dense mist. Sadie stood at stage left, stone in hand. She called out in her high voice: "Oh Stone of Resurrection! Return to me my dead sweetheart!"

Colin Creevey stumbled onto the stage, grinning from ear to ear. He was covered in white paint. He and Sadie hugged, and then he led her from the stage.

"And so Death claimed the second brother for his own," read Susan. The curtain fell. "But though Death searched long for the third brother, he could never find him, until one night…"

The curtain lifted. There was Harry with a false white beard. The audience pointed and laughed.

"Oh Death? I've lived a long, long time, and I'd like to move on. This cloak will be an heirloom to my family and passed down from generation to generation. Now come and claim me Death. I'm waiting!"

Tracy ran back onto the stage. "There you are!"

They embraced.

Susan read aloud: "And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life."

"Good show!" said Morgana the Head Girl as the audience clapped.

Theo, Sadie and Harry bowed.

"We each picked our favourite Hallow," said Sadie.

"The Wand's the best," said Theo.

"The Stone's best," said Sadie.

"The Cloak," said Harry, with a knowing smile. The play was sort of relaxing to do, since everyone was so good humoured about it. Quidditch was a different matter. It never brought the houses together, it always did the opposite…

* * *

00O00

The last minutes before a match were always tense. Despite his confidence in his team and in his own skills, Harry still felt butterflies in his stomach.

Since the Weasley Twins were kicked off the team, the Gryffindors were stuck with a pair of rookie Beaters. Gryffindor didn't stand a chance. To Harry, it seemed almost as though the match were a formality; they were really only determining how heavily Gryffindor would lose.

"Okay, team, we've got just a few minutes." It was time for Flint's pre-game pep talk; today, his voice was calm. "We can do this. Thanks to my good friend Percy Weasley, Wood is not going to have his team operating as a unit. We are better fliers, harder hitters, and stronger players. The first round at the pub is on me if we beat them by more than three hundred."

"What about if by four?" Bole called out cheekily.

"Shots of firewhiskey in the butterbeer," Flint promised.

"Five?" Montague wanted to know.

"Do it and find out," Flint smirked.

As they burst out into the chill morning air, Harry plainly heard the roar of the crowd. "Here is the Slytherin team!" the announcer called. "Bletchley, Bole, Derrick, Flint, Montague, Potter, and Pucey!" Harry spiralled into the air, his emerald green Quidditch robes flaring out behind him.

Slytherin House had turned out in force to cheer on their team for this match: their section of the stands was a sea of green. In addition to the official scarves, many students sported green ribbons. Sadie was the only one with a green face though.

As Harry passed over the waves of emerald Slytherin supporters, his eyes picked out Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy in the staff section. The former had traded his usual black for house colours, while the latter was dressed as elegantly as usual. Harry's smile widened when he saw who sat next to Mr. Malfoy: Draco, still bandaged up, but giving a faint smile and waving nonetheless.

Harry took one hand off his Nimbus to wave back. Thank Merlin that Draco had recovered enough to come to the match. He would be as good as new in a few days, otherwise Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have let him out of her sight.

"And here comes the outstanding Gryffindor team!" Jordan crowed. "Bell, Frobisher, Johnson, Panning, Sharpp, Spinnet, and Wood! I'm sure Gryffindor's new Beaters are more than up to today's task! And, to thank for the loss of two of Gryffindor's heroes, sitting with the Slytherins, I give you the traitorous Percy Weasley!"

Harry almost fell off his broom. A Weasley was sitting with Slytherins? He supposed anything _was _possible, but that was definitely something he'd never expected.

As loud hisses and jeers arose from the scarlet section, there was an interruption in the commentary as McGonagall clapped her hand over the megaphone and, from the looks of it, gave Jordan a tongue-lashing.

Jordan wouldn't say anything positive about Slytherin, no matter how spectacularly they performed, so Harry tuned out the commentary.

The teams landed to form a circle while the captains landed in the centre of the pitch for the traditional handshake. Flint and Wood gripped one another's hands harder than was necessary and gave each other threatening stares.

"Mount!" ordered Madame Hooch. Fourteen players rose into the air. The seconds seemed to stretch as she readied the Quaffle, regarded the teams, and finally, threw it up into the air. "Go!"

Gryffindor took first possession of the ball, and Flint must have felt personally offended. He set off after Bell like a hawk after a pigeon. Harry peered around looking for the Snitch. He flew higher than anyone else, but he wasn't afraid.

He wasn't afraid, that is, until a heavy black ball went hurtling by his head at high speed. Harry ducked the Bludger just in time and felt it ruffle his hair as it sped by.

"Bole!" he shouted out.

Bole looked up and intercepted the Bludger, whacking it towards Spinnet, who dropped the Quaffle. Pucey snatched it and flew in an attack pattern towards the Gryffindor hoops.

"Go, Adrian!" Harry cheered. The first score would set the tone for the game.

"Harry, look out!"

He darted to his left and rolled. A Bludger went zooming by him again. That was odd. The other Bludger was on the far side of the pitch harassing Montague. Was that the same Bludger?

"Close one!" Derrick called as he flew by and whacked it towards Wood. It should have let Pucey and Flint make the score, but the Bludger changed direction in mid-air. Wood made the block and passed the Quaffle out to Johnson.

"Too close!" Harry agreed. "Was that the same one?"

"Yeah!" the Beater replied. "And here it comes again!"

Harry ducked to avoid it and was barely in time. Derrick whacked it again, and instead of striking Spinnet, it whipped around like a boomerang, coming for Harry again. Harry put on a burst of speed and darted for the other end of the pitch. He could hear the Bludger whistling along behind him. This didn't make any sense at all! Bludgers never concentrated on one player; their job was to try to unseat as many people as possible.

Bole was coming towards him at high velocity. The sound from his hit was tremendous. As the Beater started to cheer, the sound rattled and died in his throat. The Bludger was coming back towards Harry, like they were opposite poles of a magnet!

Drops of rain began to fall from the grey clouds, and Harry's vision started deteriorating. He couldn't see the Snitch, couldn't even look for it. He was too distracted to pay attention to the game. Only when Jordan announced the score did he learn that Slytherin was up only ten points.

"This thing's been tampered with!" he gasped as he zoomed by Derrick again. "We need to call a timeout!"

Derrick screamed in Flint's ear as the captain sailed by, and in a few seconds, Madam Hooch's whistle signalled a halt to the action. The team settled to the ground, and Flint looked askance at his Beaters.

"What's going on, Bole? Why aren't you and Derrick laying waste to those two rookies out there?" Flint sounded irritated, and Harry supposed that he had a right to be.

"Something is wrong with one of the Bludgers, Flint," Bole answered back. "It won't leave Harry alone. We're busy saving his neck up there."

"I can't manoeuvre," Harry complained. "I can't find the Snitch if I have to keep two eyes on a Bludger."

"Nobody can tamper with a Bludger," Flint told them. "I'm sure you're imagining things."

"Nobody can tamper with a Bludger!" Harry shouted. "You grew up in a world where any kid could turn a teapot into a tortoise by waving a stick and gibbering in a barbarous dialect of Anglo-Saxonisted Latin! Why would you suppose tampering with a Bludger can't be done? We have to stop the match and get an inquiry."

"I'm not going to forfeit to a team with only five experienced players!" Flint exploded. "It's humiliating! Potter, you find that Snitch, or else!"

Harry bit his lip. He could see Madam Hooch walking over. The game would have to resume soon. "Give me a bat," he demanded.

"What?" Flint's eyes went wide.

"Give me a bloody bat!" Harry hissed at him. "There's nothing in the rules that says I can't carry one, is there?"

"Well no, but-"

"Flint, give him the sodding bat! If we can't defend him, he can help himself!" Derrick wiped water off his face. "Let's get this blasted game over with before we drown."

Harry accepted the Beater's bat that Flint handed to him. "Don't get yourself killed out there," was the captain's terse final instruction.

"Ready to resume?" Madam Hooch asked as she broke into their little circle. Her eyes rested briefly on the bat in Harry's hands, but she let it pass without comment.

"We're ready," Flint replied.

As the whistle blew, Harry sensed the Bludger sneaking up on him. He pulled his broom up and spun in the air, whacking it with the bat as hard as he could. It went flying off - and in the distance, he could see the Snitch!

"Potter has just used a Beater's bat to whack a Bludger," Jordan was announcing. " Trust a Slytherin to cheat."

If Harry survived this, he was going to thump Jordan.

He pointed his broom and took off after the Snitch. All he had to do was catch it and this match would be over. It headed for the stands, and Harry had no choice but to pursue. Precious time was lost as Harry had to spin and hit the Bludger again. The Snitch got that much further ahead of him. He zoomed past Draco in the stands and in a flash of inspiration, called out, "Help!"

Professor Snape was on his feet instantly. Mr. Malfoy also stood up and drew his wand. Harry lost sight as the Bludger arced back towards him. The Snitch was there, right in front of him! If only that demented Bludger would stay off him for a few more seconds!

KABOOM!

There was a thunderous detonation, like a cannon in a Muggle war film. The explosion was deafening; Harry's broom bucked in the shock wave. As he was propelled end over end, Harry felt the Snitch slap into his hand, and he closed his fist tightly. He held onto the little golden ball for dear life as wind whistled past his ears, and he plummeted towards the ground.

Snap! As his left leg broke, Harry felt hot fire sear through his body. He gasped involuntarily and inhaled a mouthful of mud. Choking, spitting, he pushed the pain aside and held up the Snitch. The match was over. He slumped back on the grass, drawing heaving breaths through teeth clenched against agony.

"Harry! Harry!"

Suddenly there were people all around him. Madam Hooch took the Snitch from his clenched fingers. Professor Snape was peering into his eyes. Mr. Malfoy was casting a spell of some sort.

"His leg is broken," said Lucius. "He needs immediate medical attention."

"Harry!" Harry could hear Sadie scream his name. She was running forward, her purple hair sodden and hanging limp around her green face.

But Lockhart shoved her to one side. "Allow me!"

"No!" Harry protested weakly, struggling to sit up. "Not you."

"The dear boy is delirious. Doesn't know what he's saying," Professor Lockhart dismissed Harry's objections.

Mr. Malfoy's wand was now pointed at Lockhart. "You will not touch the boy!" he declared in a quiet voice. "You are no trained Healer."

"No, you are not!" said Sadie, glaring at Lockhart.

"The spell is simplicity in itself-" Lockhart began.

"Silence!" Malfoy thundered.

There was a sudden clicking noise, and Harry was half-blinded by a sudden bright flash. "No pictures," he babbled. "No pictures, please."

"Boy! What are you about?"

"M-my name is C-creevey, sir. I'm photographing the match, and-"

"Away with you! This is no time to be stupid! Someone has been injured!"

Professor Snape was fixing Creevey with his stare of doom. He turned to Sadie. "Fetch Madam Pomfrey. Run."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Everything will be fine, Harry," Mr. Malfoy was saying reassuringly. "_ Dolor ut mentis! _"

"It hurts," he whimpered.

"Don't think about it. Think about the Dark Ceremony last Solstic."

Harry struggled to put the pain aside. He remembered witnessing Sadie and the Malfoys chant their appreciation for Dark Magic when the lights were out last December 21st.

Darkness…

His eyes were getting heavy, so very heavy. This wasn't normal. He was slipping into the Dark. The pain seemed so very far away. But then there was a bright light above him. Harry came back to himself in a sudden instant. Instinctively, he tried to sit up, but firm hands held him down.

"Easy, Harry, easy. I've numbed the pain, but you can still damage yourself. Madam Pomfrey is on her way," Mr. Malfoy informed him.

"Madam Pomfrey is here now," the Matron said as she knelt down next to Harry. She waved her wand and cast diagnostic spells. "An interesting choice of spell, Mister Malfoy. All numbed. I'll be able to fix him up right as rain. Speaking of rain, let's get out of it. Mark my words, there'll be a spate of colds! And you, young Malfoy! Back to the hospital wing at once! Your holiday is over!"

Madam immobilized his body, and Harry was lifted on a cushion of air and directed towards the castle. The crowd began to disperse, and Jordan made one final announcement:

"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch through some fluke and Slytherin wins the match by two hundred points to thirty."

* * *

00O00

After a brief period of attention by Madam Pomfrey, Harry's leg was supposedly good as new. He wouldn't know, of course. It was still numb. Mr. Malfoy's spell had taken away all his pain. The resulting numbness meant that he had to stay in bed until the leg would respond again.

Draco lay in the next bed over, still sporting a few bandages, and Harry was glad that he could spend some unrushed time together.

Sadie came in at that point, her sodden hair giving off a stronger damp hair smell than is normal, because of the hair dye she used.

"Hey guys," she said breathlessly. "You both OK?" She quickly hugged them each in turns, getting rain water on their pillows.

"Oh we're fine, we love austere surroundings," said Draco.

Sadie smiled with the lips of her mask. "It is a bit dull in here, so I brought some flowers for decoration."

True enough, she produced a bouquet of little red buds, that suddenly morphed into huge venus fly traps that started snapping the air. She giggled. "Aren't they cool?"

"Out, McIntyre!" Madam Pomfrey came striding over. "And take that horrible thing with you…" She ushered Sadie out of the Hospital Wing.

"These pyjamas do itch so," Draco complained.

"You get used to it," Harry told him. "At least you got to escape them for a bit. How by Hogwarts did you convince her to let to you go the match?"

"_ I _didn't convince her of anything," Draco drawled. "I simply told Father that I wanted to see Slytherin demolish Gryffindor, and he arranged it. Nice flying, by the way."

"Thanks. I just wish I knew what had possessed that Bludger."

"There wasn't much left to it," Draco admitted. "It was pretty much annihilated by Father's spell."

"With no way to check it for tampering," Harry groused.

"Probably not," Draco agreed, "but who cares? Up Slytherin!"

"Up Slytherin!" Harry cheered.

Someone made a tutting noise. Harry leaned over to see Weasley's sister kneeling on the floor scrubbing at the tile with a brush.

"Oi, Draco, it's one of your attackers," Harry sneered.

"Which?" Draco asked. "I'll get my wand."

"The girl."

"I never did like her."

"I can see why, with a name like 'The girl' Weasley."

"Oh stop it!" she said, lifting her freckled face to glare at them. "My name's Ginny."

"You have names? I thought Weasleys just had numbers," Draco drawled.

"Shut up."

"Got a spot of detention, have you?" Draco asked brightly.

"Leave me alone."

"You didn't leave me alone!" he snapped. "I think you deserve far, far worse than detention!"

Ginny flushed as red as her hair. "Wasn't my idea," she muttered. She continued scrubbing at the tile.

"I know that. I fully intend to drown your miserable brother in a vat of glue," Draco glowered.

"Which one?" she said half-heartedly.

"Ronald," he ground out between clenched teeth. "It was his idea, wasn't it?"

Ginny didn't answer. She pushed her bucket of soapy water a few feet and continued scrubbing tile.

"You missed a spot," Draco taunted.

"No, I didn't," she denied.

Draco tossed his water glass on the floor where she'd been kneeling. "Yes, you did."

The glass shattered. "Stop that!" Ginny shrieked in outrage.

"Make me," Draco invited her.

Ginny glared up at the blond Slytherin. She drew her wand, pointed it at the shards without looking, and uttered, "_ Reparo! _" She placed the restored drinking vessel on a table and used her rag to soak up the water.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Draco called out in a sing-song tone.

The Matron was just returning to the Hospital Wing. "Yes, Mister Malfoy?"

"How it is," Draco asked softly, "that one of my attackers is permitted to be in unsupervised proximity to my person whilst in possession of a wand?"

Madam Pomfrey drew a frown on her stern face. "Miss Weasley, what were you doing with your wand out?"

Ginny's face blanched so that her freckles really showed. She stuttered for a moment, trying to come up with a good excuse.

"She knocked over the water glass," Harry said helpfully, "and then she repaired it."

"Then she pointed the wand at me," Draco exaggerated. "I simply won't stand for it."

"Miss Weasley, you are not authorized to do magic during your detention," the Matron reminded Ginny. "Surrender your wand at once."

Her brown eyes filling with tears, Ginny handed over her wand. Madam Pomfrey tucked it away in a pocket of her robes.

"Now, back to work at once," she ordered. "Don't bother the patients again, or it will be double work for you."

Harry and Draco winked at each other as Madam walked away. They could hear Ginny trying not to sniffle as she worked. When she was finally ordered to go take the sheets down to the laundry, Draco let go a small laugh.

"I enjoyed that," he confessed.

"If she'd attacked me, I don't know if I'd be so calm," observed Harry.

"She got her punishment. Gryffindor got some more of it. Ronald was the chief culprit." Draco said the boy's name in a tense voice.

"He's having to endure the wrath of Snape," Harry smiled. "Has to fetch things and scrub cauldrons; set up the lab and break it down at night. He won't have a spare moment in class if we have anything to say about it."

"I can live with the idea of forcing Weasley to fetch and carry," Draco chuckled.

Harry changed the subject. "Percy's not such a bad fellow. He _did _save your neck and he _has _been ostracised by his house because of it all. Jordan humiliated him in front of the whole school at the match."

"Father has seen to it that Percy will be amply rewarded. He was sitting with Jamie at the match, you know."

"I saw."

"So he might get the biggest score of all."

* * *

00O00

After being released from the hospital wing, Harry returned to the Slytherin dormitory and relaxed with his friends. He joined Crabbe, Millie, and Daphne for a game of Exploding Snap. Theo questioned him endlessly about the rogue Bludger, and he finally left to go raid the library. Tracy hugged him and declared loudly how worried she'd been while Pansy rolled her eyes. Sadie seemed to need constant reassurance that Harry was unhurt, and her touches on his shoulder or arm and her blue eyes wide with anxiety made him smile.

The celebration of the victory that night was boisterous. The match had been a contest between Chasers, so there was plenty of discussion and re-enactment of the plays. As a result, most of the attention focused on Flint, Pucey, and Montague. Harry was glad to sit to the side and enjoy the treats the older students had pilfered from the kitchen.

The sixth and seventh year students hatched a scheme to decorate the entrance to the Gryffindor dormitory with Slytherin colours. Led by Flint, five boys ducked out of the party early.

Harry was so tired.

"You OK?" asked Sadie softly. She had been watching him.

"Just tired," he said.

"Of course, of course…"

She led him to the boys dorm and assisted him into the bed. He fell asleep at once and was slumbering quite soundly when he was shaken awake most rudely. His head fuzzy, he peered up from the pillow.

"Harry," Draco said urgently. "Get up. There's been another attack!"

"Draco? Aren't you in the Hospital Wing?"

Harry glanced blearily around. Sadie was asleep on his bed beside him. He supposed she had took it upon herself to stay with him in case he should have a relapse, and then fallen asleep herself.

" Listen!" snapped Draco, clicking his fingers in front of Harry's eyes. "I couldn't sleep, but I heard Dumbledore and McGonagall bringing a statue into the hospital wing."

That didn't make much sense. "What?"

"Old McGonagall brought Madam Pomfrey, but she couldn't do anything. He was petrified, just like Filch's cat!"

Another attack! "Who?"

"That Gryffindor Mudblood with the camera," Draco sneered. "Stupid fool tried to take a _picture _of what it was, can you believe? He didn't try to run, but he starts clicking away. Whatever it was fried the film. Dumbledore opened the camera up and this awful-smelling smoke poured out."

"What?"

"I couldn't stay another minute. After Madam went back to bed, I snuck out and back where it's safe."

"You won't be very safe when she finds out," Harry observed, "and what is this talk of 'safe'?" he scoffed. "Your blood is beyond pure."

"I don't like murderous beasts that are not on my payroll."

"First a cat, now a student," Harry mused. "Who could be behind it all?"

"The Heir of Slytherin," Draco shrugged.

"But who is that?"

"Do you remember what Snape said? We should keep our noses out of it."

"But Creevey has been petrified!"

"No!" Sadie was awake now and sat bolt upright, her blue eyes wide and her wrecked face a mask of anguish.

"He's just a Gryffindor and he's almost certainly still alive…" said Draco.

"He'd better be," said Sadie in a tight little voice. "If he's dead I don't know what I'd do…"

"Would you go mad?" sniggered Draco. "Too late!"

But Harry remembered the play of the Three Brothers earlier and the role Creevey played in it. Disturbing, if it should turn out to be significant…


	12. Chapter 12

**Duels and Deceptions**

The news of a student being petrified spread through the school like wildfire. The brief sense of normality vanished, and an atmosphere of fear took its place. Younger students sought safety in numbers, not traversing the halls in groups of less than five. The whole population of Hogwarts was on edge. Except for Slytherin.

Hogwarts Togetherness attendance dropped sharply. Now Hermione was the only non-Slytherin there.

"It's sad how no one seems to be coming," said Hermione. "I think it's to do with the whole Chamber of Secrets business."

"No, do you really think so?" said Pansy.

Hermione missed the sarcasm. "Well I heard some silly people say that the Heir of Slytherin and the monster of Slytherin must come from Slytherin. As if that made the whole of Slytherin House responsible."

"And what do you think?" said Tracy in her too-sugary voice. "Are we still worth consorting with."

"Tracy, please…" said Sadie, putting a hand to her green forehead. "None of us agree with this so-called 'Heir of Slytherin.'"

"Of course you don't," said Hermione. "And I told that Ronald Weasley to keep his fat mouth shut about you all. He's loving this. That the Houses are divided again. He's an arse." Hermione sighed. "I wish Colin had had some sense. Wondering around the corridors at night. I ask you."

Sadie sniffed audibly.

Lucas patted her little hand and Tracy leaned down to kiss her green cheek.

"Creevey wanted to be your side-kick, didn't he?" said Draco, who was released from the Hospital Wing now. "Weirdos draw other weirdos."

"I should have been there," said Sadie in a choked voice.

"What would you have done, exactly?" asked Pansy. "Got petrified too?"

"Of course you couldn't have done anything!" said Hermione. "I'm very glad you weren't there."

Tracy hugged Sadie and kissed her.

* * *

00O00

Almost overnight, an underground trade in protective charms, amulets, and talismans sprang into existence. Playing on their long and distinguished lineages, Ellen Rowle and Lila Yaxley made a pile of Galleons in only a few days; they told stories of those they had hoodwinked in the common room before bedtime.

"That chubby second year from Gryffindor was back again today," Lila said.

"Longbottom?" Draco said.

"That's the one."

"Again? That's three times this week. What'd he buy this time?"

"Well he _thinks _he bought an amethyst amulet that will warm your skin to warn of Dark magic."

"What was it really?"

Lila shrugged. "Just some purple glass I found one time."

"At least that's somewhat believable," said Ellen. "I already sold him a rotting green onion and a decaying newt's tail. What good he thinks those will do is beyond me."

Sadie glared at them and folded her little thin arms. "That was very, very wrong."

"Oh, here we go," said Draco. "You've always got to be the odd one out."

Pansy was amused. "I thought Longbottom was pure of blood," she said speculatively.

"Quite right," Theo confirmed, "but he's practically a Squib, you know. Must be pissing his sheets at night worrying that the Heir is coming for him."

"So, we can easily sell him junk," said Lila.

"Would you tell Morgana how clever you've been?" asked Sadie, pointing across the Common Room at the Head Girl who turned to look at them.

Lila gave a start. "Please do not repeat." The pair of them hurried off.

* * *

00O00

All through the castle, tales continued to spread about Percy Weasley. According to the rumour mill, he regularly had tea with Filch while they plotted ambushes of innocent students. Weasley was also Snape's boot licker.

Harry was simply disgusted. How could people just make judgements on something they knew nothing about? Poor Weasley had been put in a difficult spot and had ultimately done the right thing. For that, he was suffering persecution at the hands of his own House. In addition to the humiliation inflicted on him at the Quidditch match, he'd been drenched with green dye, thrown in the lake, and roughed up by Oliver Wood. Gryffindor's team captain had taken the loss of his star Beaters somewhat badly.

Those stunts were just some of what Harry knew. For every incident he heard about, there were surely a dozen more that he didn't. Yet even with all of this to consider, Harry was still shocked by what happened next.

The second year Slytherins had their weekly Astronomy sky watching session on Wednesday nights. The first Wednesday in December was delightfully clear, and Professor Sinistra's enthusiasm even infected Harry, who normally didn't care much for getting to stay up past curfew only to do school work. He emerged into the chill night air, wrapped his cloak tightly, and shivering, he reconsidered his enthusiasm.

The professor gave the class their instructions, then set them to work as she retired to the classroom. Harry made a few half-hearted notes, but when he yawned widely, he leaned up against the parapet and thought longingly of his warm bed.

Something was digging into his back, and it wasn't the stones. It felt like rope. It _was _rope! Harry peeked out over the edge and gasped in shock. There, hanging upside down and dangling by a rope tied about his ankles, was Percy Weasley.

"Look!" said Harry pointing.

Draco happened to be closest, and he inhaled sharply when he saw the helpless prefect. "Pansy, get Professor Sinistra," he ordered.

"Send Crabbe," she disdained.

"Do as I say!" he snapped, flashing a scowl in her direction. Too shocked for a retort, she descended the stairs.

The other Slytherins turned round and noticed Percy too.

"Oh Darkness!" cried Sadie, her blue eyes wide.

"Is he hung?" asked Theo.

Sadie ran forward. "Crabbe, Goyle, Millie, grab the rope. Pull him up. Easy now! Help me, Harry!"

Hand over hand, the five arduously hauled the older boy to the top of the tower. Harry, Draco, Theo and Sadie all grabbed Percy's robes and eased him over the rampart. As gently as they could, they laid him on the stone floor.

The prefect didn't look good. All the blood had rushed to his head, and his face was nearly purple. The gag in his mouth explained why nobody had heard him yelling. His eyes were unfocused, and he didn't seem to recognize them. Harry removed the boy's gag while Sadie's little hands made light work of untying the rope from his ankles and wrists.

"Why were you hanging around, Weasley?" asked Draco.

Sadie cupped Percy's face in her hands. "Weasley! Weasley! Are you hurt? Answer me!"

Percy didn't respond.

"Help me get him into the recovery position!" said Sadie shrilly.

"Right, what's all this then?" Finally, Professor Sinistra had returned.

"We found him, professor," Harry told her. "Somebody left him dangling from the top."

Sinistra's eyes narrowed. "Monstrous," she declared. She muttered a quick spell under her breath and Percy rose into the air. "Madam Pomfrey is on her way. I'll take Weasley down below. You lot finish your sky watching."

"Professor!" Sadie protested.

"We would like to help in some way," Harry demurred.

"No complaining," she chided them. "Back to work."

"Yes, ma'am," he grumbled. How could he possibly be expected to focus on the stars when there was a mystery afoot much closer to the ground?

Professor Sinistra tapped Weasley's body with her wand and levitated the boy down the stairs. When she was gone, Harry shoved his notes aside. "I can't believe that someone would treat a school prefect like a yo-yo!"

"No doubt some disgruntled Gryffindors are behind it, and that they get away with it makes me sick," said Draco.

"Me too," said Sadie. She was breathing through her nose and trembling slightly.

"Gryffindors get away with _everything_," Tracy said glumly. "Can you say favoured?"

"Isn't that the truth?" Harry commiserated. "Percy's a decent chap. He doesn't deserve what they put him through."

"Somebody ought to do something about it," Daphne decided. "It's just not right."

"By 'somebody', you mean us, right?" Millie laughed.

"You think Professor McGonagall will punish those responsible?" Sadie asked.

"Hm. Weasley's one of her favourites, or so I thought," said Pansy. "Maybe."

"She hasn't done anything yet, and this stupidity has gone on for a month already." Said Theo. "To say she takes a hands-off approach with the Gryffindors would be an understatement.

"Who did it?" asked Goyle.

"Isn't it obvious?" Theo asked. "Those twin brothers of his are still sore over being banned from Quidditch. Their captain certainly won't be over it. We all know what a fanatic Wood is. It'll be those three."

* * *

00O00

The next night in the common room, Morgana called for everyone's attention. She climbed up the stairs so he could be seen and heard more easily.

"Last night, Percy Weasley, saver of young Slytherins in distress, was assaulted by members of his own House," she announced. Murmurs spread through the audience. She glared around until they fell silent.

"His House has all but exiled him, and we have decided to take him in. Get used to seeing him around here, because he's moving in."

"Couldn't you find a stray cat to adopt instead?" someone jeered.

Morgana turned her hooded eyes on the heckler. "Weasley is a pure-blood with ambition to rise above his current lot in life. He saved one of our own. Lucius Malfoy agreed with me about it."

"Is that even allowed?" Bole asked.

Abraham Montague, stood up. "I believe this to be an extraordinary circumstance. If Weasley is driven out of his House, logically he must go to another. Why should it _not _be Slytherin that benefits? With all apologies to Sam Palce, Weasley is most likely to be named Head Boy next year. Let's keep the power in the House."

"Does anyone have any objections?" Morgana asked them all. "If so, spit it out."

"He did betray his own siblings," pointed out Heather Sommernacht, a fourth year.

"Siblings who ganged up on a younger student," retorted Lynn Fawcett. "Thank Merlin he _did _betray them, or we would have one less Slytherin."

"I say Percy's actions speak _highly _of his character, not negatively," Draco declared, rising to his feet. "Let's recall what happened as a result of that night. He saved me! Gryffindor lost more points than they usually do for their rule breaking, and their Quidditch team lost two very skilled Beaters."

"All good things," Flint agreed heartily.

"I think it's a wonderful idea, Morgana" Sadie piped up.

"I'd also like to point out that Professor Snape has given his approval," said Jamie. "He trusts Percy, so I do too." She gave a coy smile.

There was silence as the Slytherins all looked sideways at each other. "Any more objections?" Morgana asked. There were none. "Then it shall be so."

As the students all resumed their activities, the sixth years left the common room with the Head Girl on some evening mission. They returned an hour or so later, bringing with them all of Percy's belongings in one trip. Apparently the prefect didn't own much, but nobody made even one comment.

"Witches and wizards of Slytherin House, we call upon you to bear witness," Morgana said dramatically. "We now offer to the purifying flame all traces of Percy Weasley's old life as a Gryffindor."

Sam Palce raised a red and gold scarf. He showed it off to the common room and then tossed it on the burning logs.

Come the next weekend visit to Hogsmeade, Percy's new friends intended to drag him to a haberdashery for some new robes with the Slytherin crest. Percy himself made the transition to Slytherin surprisingly well. It wasn't much of a jump from associating only with Slytherins (since the rest of the school would have nothing to do with him) to bunking in the Slytherin dormitory. Before the first week was out, it seemed as though he'd always been a part of the House. There was a light in his eyes that bespoke of his growing inner happiness.

* * *

00O00

One day, there was a small knot of people gathered around the notice board in the entrance hall. A new announcement had been posted, and every student was chattering excitedly. Harry elbowed his way close enough to read the parchment and felt his own interest pique.

"They're starting a Duelling Club!" he exclaimed. "The first meeting is Saturday night."

Morgana the Head Girl was standing nearby. "Yes. I thought the Headmaster had rejected my suggestion. Looks like he's reconsidered."

"Sounds like fun," Daphne nodded. "Formal duelling lessons? Not just playing at it in an empty classroom? Outstanding."

"I wouldn't mind duelling lessons," a Ravenclaw boy was saying.

"What, do you think Slytherin's monster can duel?" his friend retorted.

"I'm going," Harry decided. He borrowed a quill and signed his name on the parchment.

So too did the rest of his friends.

At eight o'clock on Saturday night, the Slytherins hurried to the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished, and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more, and roughly half of the student body seemed to be packed into the room. Every student carried a wand, and everyone looked very excited.

"At least now we can finally find out who's going to be teaching us," Theo noted with some relief. They had speculated for days.

"I still think it's going to be Flitwick," Tracy said as they elbowed through the chattering crowd. "I hear he's a former champion."

"I bet Professor Snape would be brilliant," Daphne pointed out.

"If he was in charge, maybe we'd be using Weasley for a target." Crabbe liked that idea immensely.

"As long as it's not-" Harry started to say, but broke into a groan as Gilderoy Lockhart walked onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum purple.

"It's not all bad," Draco nudged him. "Look, there's Snape."

Lockhart waved an arm for silence. "Gather round," he called. "Can you all see me? Can you all hear me?"

"Unfortunately," Daphne muttered.

"Now then, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club in order to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works.

"Allow me to introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," Lockhart waved his arm with flourish. "He tells me that he knows a bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you to worry; your Potions Master will still be more or less in one piece when I'm done with him."

Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart was still smiling.

In the centre of the stage, Lockhart and Snape faced each other and bowed. That is to say, Lockhart bowed with great flourish and much twirling of the hands; Snape merely jerked his head irritably. They both raised their wands up in front of their faces and sharply swept them down and out at an angle. Each man turned sharply on his heel and stepped several paces away to the end of the stage.

"The traditional squaring-off is part of a formal duel," Lockhart lectured them. "It signifies the respect that each wizard has for the other."

That, obviously, meant that Snape had no respect for Lockhart. Harry could certainly sympathize.

"We shall now assume the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the now-silent crowd. He curled his left arm above his head; his wand held in his right was pointed at Snape. He looked silly, arm dangling in mid-air as it was. Snape, by contrast, also held his wand in his right hand, but he had that arm raised, ready to sweep down to release unspeakable wrath.

"On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Of course, since this is only a demonstration, neither of us will be aiming to kill the other," Lockhart proclaimed pompously.

"I wouldn't bet on that," Harry murmured, watching Snape bare his teeth.

"One - two - three!"

Both men swung their wands and redirected them towards their opponents. Snape cried out, "_ Expelliarmus! _" and a dazzling flash of scarlet light blasted Lockhart off his feet. He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down to sprawl on the floor. His wand went soaring up into the air, and Snape called it to him with another spell: " _Accio _wand!"

Harry burst into applause. Draco, Theo, and most of the other Slytherins joined him. Only Pansy and a few of the third and fourth year girls frowned.

Sadie stood up on her tiptoes, trying to peer over the crowd. "Do you think he's all right?" she squeaked.

"Who cares?" Harry and Daphne said together.

"I'm not quite sure who to cheer for," Terry Boot quipped, edging up to the group. He nodded in greeting as he too tried to see over the throng of students.

Lockhart rose unsteadily to his feet. His pointed hat had fallen off, and his normally immaculate hair was standing on end. "Well, there you have it," he said shakily as he clambered back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm. As you can see, I have lost my wand. Good idea to show them that, Professor Snape, though if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you intended to do. If I _had _wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy; however, I felt it would be instructive to let them-"

The look on Snape's face could only be described as murderous. Possibly Lockhart had noticed, because he turned to the students. "I think that has been a suitable demonstration, so split off into pairs. We shall practice the Disarming Charm."

Harry took a step towards Draco, but was shoved away with a grin. "I'm going to go find Weasley."

Harry cursed for not having thought of it first. Then again, he supposed Draco had a right to seek some measure of personal revenge.

Granger came up to the Slytherins. "Millie, can I go with you?"

Awkward. Granger didn't have any real friends to practice with. Did she suppose that would make Millie want to practice with her?

"Um…" said Millie.

"I'll practice with you," said Sadie hurriedly.

Harry looked around at his friends. Theo raised an eyebrow, but Harry turned away. He didn't feel like being humiliated in front of half the school. His eyes fell on Terry.

"Shall we?" the Ravenclaw boy invited.

"Love to," Harry replied.

"Face your partners and bow!" shouted Lockhart.

Several metres away, Draco and Weasley were glaring daggers at each other. Then Draco flashed Weasley an impudent grin and bowed. Weasley's lips tightened.

Terry bowed from the waist. Harry mirrored him.

"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your Charms to disarm _only _. We don't want any accidents. One! Two! Three!"

Quick as a flash, Harry slashed his wand down and cast the Disarming Charm. It was an unfamiliar spell to him, and he felt a surge of satisfaction as the magic poured out of him, through his wand, and into the jet of crimson light. Terry, still bringing his wand into position, took the blast full in the chest. He recoiled as though shoved and fell to the floor. His wand sprang up into the air, and Harry caught it with a deft grab.

Around the room, chaos seemed to have been unleashed. Draco had cast his spell a second early, and he had not cast a Disarming Charm. Whatever he had cast, Weasley staggered back like he'd been hit over the head with a frying pan. He shook it off and cast his own spell. "_ Tarantallegra!_"

Draco's legs began to jerk around out of control in a kind of quickstep. Actually, it looked more like a silly walk. Draco snarled and pointed a shaking wand at Weasley. "_ Petrificus totalus! _"

Weasley was not quick enough to dodge the spell, and his whole body stiffened up like a board. He fell to the floor with a crash.

"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart. Snape, however, took charge.

"_Finite Incantatem! _" he shouted. Weasley's body relaxed; Draco's feet stopped dancing.

A haze of green smoke was hovering over the scene. Theo was helping third year David Palce to his feet; Pansy stood triumphantly over Parvati Patil; Mandy Brocklehurst and Daphne were both lying on the floor panting.

Not many had stuck to disarming only, but Hermione and Sadie had. Hermione had successfully disarmed Sadie. "That was really good," Sadie was congratulating her. "On your first duel too, you say?"

"Dear, oh dear," Lockhart muttered, skittering through the crowd. "Up you go, Macmillan. Careful there, Miss Fawcett. Pinch it hard and tip your head forward." He looked around at the aftermath of the duels.

"I think perhaps I had better teach you how to _block _unfriendly spells," he decided. The man seemed so very flustered that Harry couldn't help but smile. Lockhart glanced at Snape, who was looking satisfied, and quickly averted his eyes. "I'm sure you all know a few spells appropriate for combat. Let's have a volunteer pair, shall we? Is there anyone who would like to step up on the stage?"

"I would Sir!" said a girl's voice. Ginny Weasley had put up her hand.

"Very good," said Lockhart. "And who else."

"Harry Potter," said the red headed girl. She smirked. "If he dares."

"It's a dare! It's a dare!" chorused the Gryffindors. "Does Potter dare take her on?"

Draco shoved him towards the stage. "Don't let them think you can't take on the-girl Weasley."

On the stage, Ginny smiled at Harry. She even had freckles on her lips. She tapped her nose. What was she thinking? Her knowledge of spells couldn't be as advanced as a second year's, could it?

Lockhart counted down from three, Harry barely heard two before there was a loud cry and he was sent sprawling across the platform. Cheat! Harry pushed himself up, annoyed and slashed his wand.

"_Flippendo_!"

Ginny spiralled back through the air and slammed hard on her side. She didn't even bother getting up. "_Tenebrae_!"

The large, electric blue jet hit Harry dead on and he let out a cry, dropping his wand a moment and pressed his hands flat against his eyes. They were watering terribly and hurt. He groped on the floor for his wand and swung up. He wasn't going to be humiliated by any first year! "_Stupefy_!"

There was a sizzle and Ginny dove at the floor. The stupefy was ended by Snape so it wouldn't hit another student and Ginny charged up. His pulse quickening and breath coming faster. Harry got to his feet. Ginny spun around and pointed her wand.

"_Impedimenta_!"

Harry dodged the spell and turned in place just in time to see it hit Lockhart and send him flying. Harry laughed a little. Idiot. He rounded again only to be hit full on by a spell he hadn't even heard Ginny cast. Harry slammed back into the platform, his legs bound together and he sent a glare towards her. Who used a leg locking curse in a duel!?

"I can do anything I want with you, Harry Potter," said Ginny, standing over him. "No matter the cost."

"_Finite_!" Harry stood slowly, panting hard.

Ginny blew him a kiss. "Get up."

Harry got to his feet and tried to cast 'stupefy' again. This time Ginny dispelled it with a flick of her wand. Wait, did her eyes glow red for a second there? Her mouth moved into a smirk which somehow looked sinister even on a freckly faced young girl. She slashed with her wand. "_Serpentsortia_!"

A writhing black cobra was the last thing Harry expected. He stared at it as it lapped at the air, tasting and smelling before winding its way forward. Several students against the platform back away in fear and Harry swallowed as he looked at the snake.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape drawled, stepping forward, "I'll get rid of it for you."

"Allow me!" said Lockhart, waving his wand at the snake. There was a bang. The snake launched up in the air before hitting the platform again with a thwack. The cobra slithered towards the edge of the platform and rose up, flaring out it's hood. A group of students were standing back, but the snake was interested in one - a Hufflepuff boy.

The snake reared back and made to strike.

"_**No!**_" Harry managed, it burst out of his throat before he could stop himself and some people turned to gawk at him. The snake swivelled and looked at him interestedly. Then looked back at the boy. "_**I said no! Leave him.**_" The cobra moved and swung round to move towards Harry. Harry smiled faintly, glad he had stopped the snake away from hurting anyone.

"What are you playing at?" Finch-Fletchley was angry.

Harry turned to look at the boy, who was pallid and wide-eyed. Everyone else was staring at him too.

What had he done wrong?

Snape stepped forward and waved his wand. "_ Vipera evanesca! _" The magic struck the snake, and it turned to ash, which quickly crumbled into nothingness. He turned a speculative eye towards Harry. There was shrewdness in that gaze, a questioning. Harry shivered.

He began to be aware of a mutter in the background. It was ominous, and Harry didn't like it. He didn't know what the murmurs _should _sound like, but he'd just saved Finch-Fletchley's life. The mood shouldn't be this black.

Harry was tugged down from the stage by Theo and Draco. Crabbe and Goyle and the girls formed ranks on either side of the three of them, and they hurried him from the hall. As they went through the doors, people on either side drew back, as though he carried some deadly disease. Confused, Harry followed along. "Theo, what-"

"Shut up," Theo ordered tersely. "Common room. Now."

His questions went unanswered until they were safely back behind the closed stone wall of the Slytherin House common room. The room was deserted, the younger students having all been at the duelling club, and the older students all having gone to visit Hogsmeade. Harry was roughly sat down in a chair, and Theo began to pace up and down before him.

"You're a Parselmouth," Theo stated flatly. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Yes, why didn't you trust me?" said Tracy indignantly.

"You don't trust us?" said Pansy coldly.

"Let's not fluster poor Harry," said Sadie. "It was his secret to keep."

"You already knew!" said Theo, glaring shrewdly at her.

"I told him it was his secret to keep," said Sadie valiantly. "Blame me if you have to blame anyone."

"You would say that, even if it wasn't your idea," said Theo. He shook his head. "This is bad. Harry. You are in a great deal of danger now."

"What's the problem?" Harry was starting to get angry. "What's so bad about it? If I hadn't told that snake not to attack the Hufflepuff, he'd be dead of snake poison by now!"

"Is that what you said?" Draco asked.

"Well obviously Harry would only do the right thing," said Sadie folding her arms.

This was really getting out of hand. "You were right there, Draco!" Harry exploded. "You heard me!"

Draco shook his head slowly. "I heard you speaking Parseltongue. Snake language. It was all hissing."

"All right, so this is weird," Harry admitted, "but I still don't see what the problem is."

"Yes, it's a wonderful gift," said Sadie enthusiastically. "And associated with the Dark Arts. What could be better?"

"The problem," Draco announced, "is that Salazar Slytherin was famous for being able to talk to snakes. He was a Parselmouth. It's the reason our house symbol is a serpent."

Harry's jaw dropped.

"Exactly," Draco said soberly. "Now the entire school is going to think you're his great-great-great-odd-grandson. Especially since Finch-Fletchley is a Mudblood, and to the idiots there in the Hall, it looked like you egged the snake on him."

"But I'm not!" Harry denied instantly. "Am I?"

"We can't know for sure," Theo told him. "Slytherin lived in the Middle Ages, and the records of him after he left the school are very sketchy. For all we really know, you could be."

* * *

00O00

Harry couldn't sleep at all that night. He and Sadie went to see Cora, who was cleaning out the Jacuzzi near the Boys Dorm.

"Everyone found out I'm a Parselmouth," said Harry bitterly. "And now most of the school will hate me for it. Even our friends were acting weirdly."

Sadie shook her head, her purple hair rippling and bouncing. "They will come around. They have to."

Cora hugged Harry to her and he felt soothed as he always did in her arms. He rested his cheek against her clammy green one. "I'm sure they will come around. Anyway, you can always live in my room. I've got a big one in the attic, now the little one is coming. Professor Lockhart should be moving in with us…"

Great. This was all Harry needed. Living with Lockhart! The git was going to steal his mother away! This was the worst calamity of all!


	13. Chapter 13

**Petrification and Resurrection**

The castle woke on Tuesday morning to find the first snow falling heavily. In addition to signalling the start of the holiday season, outdoors classes were cancelled, including the second years' Herbology lesson. Professor Sprout wanted to fit the Mandrakes with tiny hats, socks, and scarves, a tricky task that she would entrust to no one but herself. It was vital that the Mandrakes grow as fast and healthily as possible now that they were needed to restore Colin.

Harry was too distracted to learn the new card game a couple of fourth years wanted to teach the younger Slytherins. He prowled around the common room while his friends sat with the fourth years playing cards.

"Snap out of it!" said Draco, looking up.

Tracy looked up, her pretty mouth set in straight lines and her blue eyes still showing the hurt they had the previous evening. It was uncomfortable seeing her look at him that way. He had always thought her eyes were pretty, though not as captivating as Sadie's. "I'm sure what's bothering you is nothing you can trust me with."

Sadie clutched her cards close to her chest and her wide blue eyes flickered from Tracy to Harry. The eerie lights from the lake through the Common Room window gave her green face a ghostly look. "Let's go and visit Hagrid, Harry," she said in a voice of forced jollity. "We haven't done in a while."

Harry was glad to get out of the Common Room. The awed glances he was receiving from other Slytherins, were annoying. He took Sadie's hand and they went out to the grounds towards Hagrid's hut. Hagrid had better not turn on Harry.

Harry held Sadie's hand as they trudged through the snow. The small girl tripped and stumbled as she practically waded through it.

Hagrid was frowning at a dead chicken that was hanging from one meaty hand. "Second one this week," he grumbled. When he saw the kids coming, however, he brightened. "'Lo, there! 'Ow're you two doin' today?"

Relief shot through Harry, and he shrugged slightly.

"Hey, Hagrid," said Sadie, her green face splitting in a grin. "Great to see you again..."

Harry decided to let Sadie exchange the pleasantries. Hagrid ushered them inside and they perched on overlarge chairs. Sadie patted Fang on the head and then she and Hagrid rambled about dragons and dragon venoms – their shared interest. Then Sadie changed the subject. "Everyone's acting peculiar cos Harry's a Parselmouth. Stupid really. Think how cool it is to be a Parselmouth."

Hagrid turned and patted Harry on the shoulder, nearly tipping him and the chair over. "Don't ye even worry about it, 'Arry. It'll pass, it always does." He paused. "Assumin' you aren't the 'Eir, that is." Hagrid leveled a serious gaze at Harry, and rapidly shaken head was his answer. "Well then you've got nuthin' to worry 'bout."

Warmed, Harry nodded slightly, then changed the subject. "What happened to your chicken?"

"Second one this term, I tell you. Dunno what it is - maybe some foxes from the Forest, but I can't say fer sure." He heaved a great sigh. "I'll just 'ave to ask Dumbledore 'bout gettin' another one. Just wish a knew what was going on, is all."

* * *

00O00

Back in the castle, the corridors were pretty dark. Snow had piled up in the windows, shutting out the light. Harry and Sadie hugged themselves in their warm cloaks. They could hear Professor McGonagall shouting at someone who had turned his partner into a badger.

"Oh Darkness," said Sadie, shaking her head so that her purple hair rippled and bounced. Resisting the urge to peek in, Harry walked on by.

In the library, Sadie suddenly made a beeline for the Restricted Section. Harry caught her hand. "You don't have a note from a teacher, I bet."

At the back, they heard whispering. It was a group of Hufflepuffs. They had their heads close together and were having a hushed, anxious conversation. He could almost hear them, and he edged closer out of curiosity.

"So anyway," the stout Macmillan was saying, "I told Justin not to leave the dorm unless he had to. There's no telling when Potter will try to finish the job. Hopefully he can keep his head down until Potter finds a new victim."

"You definitely think it is Potter, then, Ernie?" asked Abbott. Her voice was anxious as she toyed with her blonde pigtails.

Sadie turned to gaze curiously at Harry. "Are you eavesdropping?"

Harry nodded.

"Can I too?"

Harry nodded again and Sadie sidled up to him, turning an ear to the Hufflepuffs.

"Can there be any doubt, Hannah? What House is he in? Slytherin." Said Ernie. "All Slytherins are cruel and uncaring."

Sadie's mouth fell open in indignation.

"He speaks Parseltongue," said Ernie, "and everyone knows that's the mark of a Dark wizard. Have you ever heard of a decent one who could talk to snakes? They called Slytherin himself Serpent-tongue."

"He doesn't seem all that mean, though," Abbott said uncertainly. "Bit self-absorbed, but pleasant. And are all Slytherins bad? McIntyre seems very nice, even though she is the weirdest girl in the school, no contest."

"Oh Hannah, you're so kind," murmured Sadie.

"And Potter made You-Know-Who disappear. He can't be all bad, can he?" said Hannah.

Macmillan lowered his voice conspiratorially. "No one knows how he survived that attack. There's no defence against the Killing Curse. Potter should have been annihilated. Only a really powerful Dark wizard could have done…"

"That's a big compliment, getting called a Dark Wizard. At least he acknowledged you're awesome," murmured Sadie.

"Make no mistake," said Ernie. "Potter's a cold blooded killer and he's out to kill Justin…"

Sadie gave a little start, baring her teeth. Breathing through her nose, she jumped out from behind the bookshelf.

From behind another bookshelf, Hermione Granger did as well. How many eavesdroppers had the Hufflepuffs drawn?

The two girls almost bumped into each other. "Oh! Hey Hermione," said Sadie. "Nice to bump into you here."

"Oh… Hi Sadie," said Hermione.

"You speak first," said Sadie graciously. "I think we've both been eavesdropping and we're both upset."

"No, you speak first," said Hermione, flushing pink.

"No, you should," said Sadie.

"Will you crazy eavesdroppers get on with it?" said Ernie.

"Alright," said Sadie. She put her hands to her hips and glared at Ernie. "How dare you talk about Harry that way? He's the sweetest, kindest, gentlest, coolest boy I know."

Harry felt himself blush. Was he really all those things? Sadie loved him, so of course she would say that.

"You'll never do the good things he has," said Sadie almost choking on the words, she was so peeved. She could not of course tell the secret of their adventures the previous summer. "You're a miserable backbiter MacMillan! You don't know what you're talking about. I've seen Harry conquer certain death…" she paused, realising she was going to reveal too much about the previous summer when it was supposed to be a secret. She paused and breathed through her nose, glaring at Ernie.

"Erm… alright," said Hermione. "I just wanted to say that it's ridiculous that you lot are so bigoted about Parselmouths. That Harry has a special gift is a wonderful thing. You lot, being mean about a gifted student… you're just like the Muggles in primary school who were jealous of me. Or Ron Weasley."

"Steady on," said Ernie.

"I was trying to find Harry, because I want to learn Parseltongue," said Hermione.

"Oh, interesting," said Sadie. "You really think it can be written down?"

"We can make a Parseltongue dictionary. In another timeline, I could have been Harry's best friend." Hermione blushed slightly. "If things were different, I would be … the right one for him."

Sadie nodded solemnly. "If he had had the misfortune to be sorted into Gryffindor, you would be his special friend. There is something special about you."

Harry thought he should stay out of it. He felt a squirming mix of emotions at the girls pouring out their hearts while speaking up on his behalf. It was sort of embarrassing, but he felt warm and fuzzy at the same time.

"You're both in love with Potter, or something?" said Ernie. "Lucky him to have a choice of two such weird girlfriends."

"Ernie…" said Hannah, touching his arm.

Sadie glared at him. "I'm wasting my time trying to talk sense into you." She beckoned. "Come on guys."

Harry and Hermione followed her from the library and down the empty corridor.

"There, you see!" said Ernie. "Potter was eavesdropping all along. Doesn't that just prove he's the Heir…?"

Sadie was trembling slightly, as she did sometimes when she was really ticked off.

"MacMillan is so full of nonsense," said Hermione. "I for one think Parseltongue is a wonderful gift. I want to share it."

Sadie smiled at her.

"I dunno if it works that way," said Harry cautiously. "I don't really think about doing it, it's only when I see a snake or a toad."

Hermione's face fell. Then she brightened again. "The Care of Magical Creatures teacher, Professor Kettleburn, he might know a way," said Hermione. "Will you help record it, Harry. We can break the silly stigma that's attached to the gift of communicating with another species."

At that moment, Sadie gasped.

As Harry squinted in the gloom, he could just make out the form of Justin Finch-Fletchley. He was cold and rigid, with a look of shock frozen on his face. His empty eyes stared up at the ceiling.

Shocking as it was, it was not as horridly strange as what had happened to the other victim: Gryffindor's House ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, was floating horizontally six inches off the floor. He was no longer pearly white like other ghosts; he was black like soot, smoky instead of translucent.

The details of the scene saturated his brain. Even as Harry jumped to his feet, he mentally noted the muffled sounds of professors lecturing behind closed doors. There on the floor he could see spiders marching single-file like ants, scuttling away from the scene as fast as they could. Smart spiders.

Hermione gave a little scream, and clapped her hands to her mouth, her face white.

Sadie knelt down by Justin, her blue eyes wide. "Justin? Can you hear me?" She tried to move his arm, but couldn't. He must be petrified.

"Nearly Headless Nick…" squeaked Hermione, pointing at the immobilised ghost.

"Nick…" Murmured Sadie, putting her green face close to the ghost. She gingerly reached out her little hand and tried to touch the ghost's face, but she just went through him as though he really were just smoke. Then she touched Justin's cheek and then pressed her ear against his chest.

She shook her head so that her dyed hair rippled and bounced. "Oh, Justin. Why couldn't you have been sensible?" Her voice quivered, like she wanted to cry.

At that moment, Peeves the poltergeist came hurtling down the corridor.

"Why, it's the misfit sideshow!" he cackled. "Why're you skulking around here…?"

Then Peeves saw Justin and Nick. "ATTACK! MURDER! ATTAAACK!" he yelled.

There was a commotion as doors swung open and students came crowding into the corridor, Professor McGonagall leading them.

The Hufflepuffs came dashing up the corridor from the library.

"Caught in the act!" cried Ernie MacMillan, pointing at Harry.

"Silence, MacMillan!" said Professor McGonagall glaring at him.

Peeves was in his element. He loved to see havoc and distress.

He began to do a tapdance in the air and improvise a song.

"Oh Potter you rotter, oh what have you done,

You're killing off students, you think it's good fun."

"Go away, Peeves!" snarled Professor McGonagall.

Peeves blew a raspberry at her and swooped down the corridor.

Professor McGonagall conjured a stretcher and levitated Justin onto it. Then she conjured a fan and demonstrated how to waft the petrified Nick along with it.

"Get them to the Hospital Wing," she ordered one of the kids, handing over the fan. "Potter, follow me. We're going to see the Headmaster."

"You can't think Harry would ever do something like this, you just can't!" screeched Sadie, her little hands balled into fists as she snarled at McGonagall.

Hermione nodded vigorously. "Of course Harry never did it. I know for a fact."

"It's out of my hands, McIntyre," said McGonagall. "I am confident however that it is not in your nature to hurt anyone. And Granger is a Gryffindor, so she is above suspicion."

Hermione looked uncomfortable.

"To your common rooms," said McGonagall to the girls.

"No. I'm staying by Harry's side," said Sadie, glaring at McGonagall and breathing through her nose.

"M- Me too," said Hermione, her brown eyes wide and anxious.

"Suit yourselves," said Professor McGonagall. She led them through the corridors until they came to a door flanked by stone gargoyles. "Sherbet lemon!" said McGonagall.

The gargoyle sprang aside. They entered a spiral stone staircase that carried them upwards like a Muggle escalator until they reached an oak door. McGonagall knocked and then pushed the door inwards.

"Inside!" she said. "The Headmaster will be here shortly."

The three of them entered Dumbledore's office.

"What a beautiful office!" said Hermione looking around. The tower room was dome shaped and the ceiling was decorated with a starry sky theme. There were little spindly tables with silver instruments that whirred and puffed clouds of smoke.

"Look at all the books!" said Hermione, pointing at the bookshelves.

"Hello," said Sadie. "Those are Dark Arts tomes…"

Suddenly there was a gagging sound, like a sick turkey.

"Oh, hello!" said Sadie, grinning at the sight of an ugly bird with no feathers atop a golden perch. It looked balefully at them and one of its few remaining feathers fell out.

"It looks like it's about to die," said Hermione uneasily.

"It's a phoenix," Sadie explained. "When it's time for them to die, they resurrect themselves. The key to immortality! Look…"

The phoenix burst into flames and fell to the floor, a pile of ash. Then a newborn chick poked its head out. At that moment, Dumbledore came sweeping into the room.

"Your phoenix is born again!" said Sadie, grinning and pointing.

"About time too," said Dumbledore. "I've been telling him to get a move on."

Sadie chuckled, then her masked face creased into a frown as she remembered why they were there. "Professor, you cannot think for a moment that Harry would hurt anyone, you know very well he hasn't got a bad bone in his body and he is really brave…"

"I do not think Harry attacked anyone," said Dumbledore. "I merely sent for him to ask if there is anything on his mind that he wishes to share."

Harry felt uncomfortable. Why did Dumbledore suddenly take an interest in him when he was normally so aloof and detached from the school that he had his office in a tower and only appeared occasionally at mealtimes?

"There isn't anything, Professor," said Harry.

He was aware of Sadie shifting on her feet as if she were about to explode.

"Very well. Sadie, what is it that irks you?" asked Dumbledore.

"I wanna help Madame Pomfrey," said Sadie. "She can't cure those poor petrified people until the mandrakes are mature, but with some less conventional healing there might be another way…"

"I will not hear of it, McIntyre," said Dumbledore. "Madame Pomfrey is qualified to care for them and she has many years experience. I am content to leave them in her care and you should be too."

00O00

This didn't stop Sadie from dragging Harry along to visit Colin in the Hospital Wing. What was the point of talking to a petrified person? Harry was pretty sure Colin couldn't hear her.

"Here's one of those Muggle super-hero comics you like so much," said Sadie as she perched on a chair by the bed of the immobile Gryffindor.

Sadie began to read the comic as though it were a play script. It was about Spider-Man and the villain, Doctor Octopus. Sadie hadn't quite got her head around the fact that Spider-Man and Doc Oct were not wizards.

"What an arse that Doc Oct is," said Sadie shaking her head. "Not only an absolute disgrace to magical people, but determined to splash it all over the Muggle news. Actually, this too topical for comfort – Remember You Know Who?"

This outing had a slightly different type of storyline. At the end, Spider-Man is rescued from Doc Oct by his most loyal fan. A little girl who was dying of leukemia. It is implied that that is why Spider-Man showed her who he really was.

"And so at the end, Tina says, I'll keep your secret for the rest of my life, Peter," said Sadie. She sniffed audibly. "Oh Peter, didn't it occur to you that you could have studied Dark Magic to save her?"

Harry could see now why this particular comic caught Sadie's interest. He was to be reminded of her passions yet again that evening. Back in the Slytherin complex, Sadie led him down the steps of the inverted tower that contained the boys dormitories until the reached the very bottom, where there were the doors to the second year dorm and the jacuzzi. Sadie poked the wall with her wand and a hidden door appeared, roughly hewn in stone.

"Thank Darkness I discovered this," said Sadie. She led him into a dark room that had a sweet, musty smell.

"Chip! Mummy's here!" called Sadie.

That ugly purple thing Sadie had brought with her to Hogwarts came into view, but now it had legs and its face looked more detailed. Harry turned away his gaze in disgust.

"Mum-my…" the thing rasped.

"My perfect baby!" cooed Sadie. "You're so beautiful. But after all this time… I think we need to do some repairs on you. Because something doesn't seem right."

Nothing about this scene seemed right to Harry. He discretely slipped away.

* * *

00O00

Harry returned to the Common Room. Tracy and Draco were there. Harry nervously shuffled on his feet. "Um… I'm really sorry I didn't tell you earlier that I was a Parselmouth. I don't think hard enough, that's my problem."

Tracy looked up and smiled. "That goes for most boys."

"Hey!" said Draco. "I am wiser and more wonderful than any girl."

Tracy snorted.

Harry knew how to placate her. "Being a Parselmouth just didn't matter to me so I didn't give it any though. But being your friend means everything."

"Aw." Tracy hugged him and he got her blond hair in his eyes and the scent of her shampoo in his nostrils.

"The rest of us admire your secrecy," said Draco. "Shows you're finally getting cunning. It's just Tracy who gets upset about trivial things."

Tracy scoffed and chucked a cushion at him.

* * *

00O00

Following the double attack on Justin and Nearly Headless Nick, Hogwarts was shut for the vacation. Harry felt his excitement build as all the students gathered up their belongings and journeyed down to Hogsmeade station that Monday morning. Getting away from Hogwarts, from all the whispers and rumours and paranoia, was absolutely wonderful.

The hours of the long train ride slipped by quickly, and before they even realized it, the train was pulling into King's Cross station. Sadie and Harry would get to pay short visits to each of their friends' homes at the start of the vacation. Harry looked forward to it with eager anticipation. Seeing a variety of wizarding homes. What a treat! They would be going with Theo and Mr Nott when they departed Kings Cross.

His solstice was probably booked already – no doubt Sadie would want to drag him into a Darkness Appreciation Ceremony on the 21st. That would probably be with the Malfoys or the Notts. Christmas would be spent at Hill House, the McIntyre's Home with his mother, there was no question about that.

Somehow, in a hurried frenzy, all students made it out of their compartments and onto the platform. Waiting parents helped unload trunks and pets and children.

Percy Weasley and Jamie Davis kissed ostentatiously on the platform, which was rather embarrassing to watch. Narcissa Malfoy called Percy over to her and then hugged him tight. "Thank you… Thank you…" she breathed.

Sadie grinned at the sight and clasped her hands together.

"I think Percy's gone into shock," Theo observed. "He's started being popular with the ladies."

"Theo!"

"Dad!" Theo hugged a shortish old man with grey hair. His dark blue robes decorated with silver rune patterns. There could be no doubt that this was Mr. Nott, Harry could see a likeness.

"Is this young Potter, then?" the man asked, offering Harry his hand.

"Harry, if you please, sir."

They shook hands.

"And Miss McIntyre," said Mr Nott. "I was sorry to hear about your accident."

There was really no completely delicate way of alluding to Sadie's disfigurement. Sadie didn't seem to mind though. "Please call me Sadie," she said, hugging him. "It's so kind of you to have us. Thank you so much."

The Boy Who Lived turned to Draco. "Enjoy the holiday," he said sincerely.

"I'll see you at the Parkinsons' do."

"Fair enough," Harry agreed.

Back through the barrier they went, and down the street to Puddlemucker's Sweet Shoppe. Despite Mr. Nott's odd attire, none of the Muggles gave them so much as a second glance. In the shoppe, Mr. Nott flipped the fire attendant two Galleons. The tin of Floo powder was produced, and the wizard tossed it into the fire with panache.

"Casa de Nott," he ordered.

The green flames crackled delightfully, and the man vanished into them. Theo followed.

Sadie patted Harry on the arm. "I'll go first. I'll help you if you feel a bit woozy when you come through."

Sadie vanished into the green flames. Harry followed, hoping fervently that he would not be sick.


	14. Chapter 14

**Marriage and Mistletoe**

Harry was whirled around in the green vortex until he was dumped into a pile of ashes and dust… A ghostly green face loomed over him. It was Sadie, peering into his eyes.

She cupped his face in her hands. "Are you OK?" She helped him to his feet and produced a little brush from somewhere and brushed the ash off his clothes. "Hold on…" she caught hold of his sleeve as he turned from the fireplace, licked her finger and beckoned for him to lean down so she could wipe a smut from his face.

Harry would have thought nothing of this, if he hadn't caught sight of Theo smirking behind his hand and suddenly felt self-conscious. Sadie must have noticed unease in his eyes, because she touched his cheek. "You're alright, dear, I promise."

Casa de Nott was a magnificent home, in Harry's humble opinion. The splendor of the sitting room impressed him immediately. A wonderful crystal chandelier cast rainbow sparkles over the elegant oak furniture and tapestries.

As the four dusted themselves off, two house elves ran into the room to get the luggage. They gathered the trunks and bags into the center of the rug. One of them took Sadie's little purple travelling bag. "Thank you," said Sadie, grinning at it.

"Take Harry Potter's things to the guest suite," Mr. Nott instructed. "Make sure that all his clothes are laundered and pressed and in pristine condition. Miss McIntyre's too, while you're at it."

The elves bowed silently and vanished with cracks.

"Now, I do believe it's time for lunch. I hope you kids didn't fill up on snacks on the train."

"No, I was looking forward to ravioli," Theo revealed.

"Yummy!" said Sadie.

"They've been at it since I left the mansion," Mr. Nott affirmed. "It should be just about ready now."

"Excellent. Let's get to it. I'm starved. Harry, I hope you're hungry."

It was fortunate that Sadie had pulled Harry aside beforehand and warned him that Theo's Mum was dead. Otherwise he would have made the gaffe of asking to see her!

Mr. Nott, it turned out, was a scholar. He spent his days with books of all sorts. At present, he was researching the number five.

"How interesting!" said Sadie politely.

Harry tried not to let his eyes glaze over.

With a little luck, Mr. Nott explained, sixth year Arithmancy students would be referred to his text. Lucius Malfoy might put in a word for him.

When an invitation to see the library was extended, Harry could not refuse, especially not as Sadie and Theo expected him to go along with it. After the libraries at Hogwarts and Malfoy Manor, Harry felt he had seen large collections of books before, so he was ready to be suitably polite. He was not prepared to be astounded.

The room itself was so big that it could not possibly be natural. High-order Charms, Mr. Nott explained, were what allowed such a large room to exist in a small mansion. There were more books than Harry could conveniently estimate, and that wasn't all: the room was also part laboratory (towards the back) and part arboretum (off to the side).

"Wow," said Harry. For a moment, he was impressed.

"Ahhhhh!" breathed Sadie, rubbing her hands together, her blue eyes wide.

"Nice, wot?" Theo grinned. "I grew up in this room."

"More than nice," said Sadie.

"Would you care to help me with an experiment?" Mr. Nott asked the trio.

"Yes! Experiments are important," said Sadie.

Theo looked askance at Harry, who shrugged. "Sounds like fun, Dad. What are we doing?"

"My hypothesis is that the number five is the most important of all numbers, in a magical sense."

"I thought that seven was strongest," Theo questioned.

"So common wisdom tells us," Mr. Nott said with a nod, "but seven does not exist in nature. Both living and non-living things exhibit traits of six, such as snowflakes and honeycombs, and six is a very useful number indeed, I have found. Five is different. Inanimate nature avoids fiveness. There are no five-sided crystals, for example. So far as I have studied, there is not one instance of fiveness outside of living beings. There, of course, fiveness is abundant, from our fingers and toes to the starfish on the beach. I have yet to run exhaustive tests, but I suspect that my hypothesis will be proven true."

"So, what about seven?" Theo asked, not letting go of his original point.

"Practically useless," Mr. Nott sniffed. "Oh, it's good for a few showy things, but no serious wizard would ever depend on seven were his life at stake."

Mr. Nott's brief explanation had fired Harry's curiosity. "How can we help?" he asked.

Hours later, as he soaked in his hot bath, Harry concluded that Theo was truly blessed. Harry hadn't understood even a fraction of the magical principles involved with what they'd done that afternoon, but the older wizard had patiently taken time to answer his questions and gently corrected him when he was in error. Harry had never had a Dad. He had never wanted any mother other than Cora, but had he missed out by not having a parent of his own gender? For the first time, he wondered what that would be like… then with a shudder, he thought of Lockhart. Lockhart as dad… what a nightmare!

There hadn't been any flashy results from the experiment, like Harry expected, but Mr. Nott seemed most pleased with the day's tests, and he was talking happily to himself as he quickly scribbled down his thoughts in a journal at his desk as the kids left to go wash up for dinner.

The hour was considerably later than when Harry normally ate dinner, but the food placed in front of them was just as delicious as that at Hogwarts. Harry gorged himself, and couldn't even eat one after dinner mint.

"We haven't talked much about your classes," Mr. Nott noted as he sipped his coffee. "Harry, what is your favorite subject?"

"This year? Definitely Potions." With Defence being reduced to such a joke, there was no doubt about it.

"Not Defence? Theo informed me that you received top marks last year."

"That was last year," Harry emphasized. "I haven't learned anything this year other than that Cornish pixies are dangerous in large groups."

"Lockhart is not a good teacher?" the wizard queried.

Sadie sighed and shook her head.

Theo snorted rudely. "Dad, don't you _read _my letters? Lockhart's an idiot."

"I know you're a bit prone to exaggeration at times, Theo. That's why I wanted Harry's opinion."

"I agree with Theo. Lockhart couldn't teach an eel to crawl across land."

Mr. Nott raised an eyebrow at Harry's analogy. Sadie smiled with the lips of her mask. Harry thought about eels when making metaphors, because there were eel like fish in the sewer where he grew up. They were the type of fish Cora was able to catch for them to eat.

"They hired an incompetent teacher?" asked Mr. Nott.

"He left a class of second year Gryffindorks to deal with the aforementioned pixies," Theo sneered. "Then he lied and said that he was never there."

"Outrageous!" Mr. Nott exclaimed.

"I don't even see how the man's so famous," Harry continued. "He can't even cast a basic Shielding Charm. Did he even go to Hogwarts? I wonder."

"He's taught you nothing?"

"That's right."

"Then it's high time you had a proper lesson," Mr. Nott decided. "To the exercise room."

Hours later, well past Harry's normal bedtime, he was soaking once again in a hot bath. He'd come from his unexpected Defence lesson both tired and sweaty. It had been a gruelling time, Harry acknowledged, but time well-spent. Theo's dad knew a _lot _. He was a good teacher too, and Harry had learned a lot in a few hours. He wished every day could be so fulfilling. Why couldn't his Mum have become an item with Theo's dad?

* * *

00O00

Harry tugged at the collar of his borrowed dress robes. The dark green fabric felt tight in the neck, though Theo had assured him that it was all in his head. Harry had never worn such splendid clothes as these. He was having trouble adjusting to wearing only his pants under the robes. He felt anxious as the minutes ticked down to the party at Pansy's house. It was to be his first social function in wizarding society.

"You look great, Harry," Sadie reassured him. Sadie herself was dressed in purple robes. She peered at his face. "You OK?"

"Nervous," he replied honestly.

"Aw. You'll be fine, I promise," she said softly.

Theo laughed at him. " Just think about how nervous the adults are about meeting _Harry Potter_."

Sadie rolled her eyes. "Oh Theo, enough melodrama."

"Ready?" Mr. Nott asked as he stepped into the den.

"I am," Theo answered. "Let's get on."

"Parkinson Place!"

Harry managed to hold his stomach together through the Floo. Sadie supported him as he staggered from the fireplace and the glass of cold water handed to him by a house elf helped immensely. Perhaps he was finally starting to get used to Floo travel.

When his eyes focused again, Pansy was standing there in robes of pale pink. Her hair had been done up, and she looked very nice.

"Happy Christmas, Harry!" she exclaimed, as she leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Harry felt blood rise to his face. "Happy Christmas, Pansy."

"Where's my kiss?" she demanded. She pointed above his head. There, hanging from a nail, was a sprig of mistletoe.

Cheeks burning, Harry acceded to tradition and gave her a quick peck.

"Where's _my _kiss?" Theo teased her from a few steps away.

"I'd rather kiss a Weasley."

"Well, Percy has an invitation, so maybe you'll get your wish," Theo needled her.

"Guys…" said Sadie, holding up her hands.

"Children, play nice now. It is the holiday after all." Mr. Nott's voice was mildly reproving.

"Yes, sir," they both answered.

"Harry, my father wanted to meet you." Pansy took his hand and tugged him off towards a small group of adults standing together. Sadie followed.

"Daddy?" Pansy said to a distinguished-looking gentleman with a full brown beard. "Harry is here."

The wizard had been in the middle of a sentence, but he jumped to attention at the sight of Harry. "Harry, I'm so pleased to meet you. I'm Douglas Parkinson; my wife Lila."

"Harry, so glad you could join us tonight." Pansy had inherited her mother's eyes.

Sadie clasped her hands together and smiled with the lips of her mask. They were ignoring her. This was probably some knotty point of pureblood etiquette that Harry didn't know about.

"Ma'am," he inclined his head to Lila.

"Have you had a good holiday?"

"It's been a delight, sir. Mister Nott has been very good to me and my special friend, Sadie."

Sadie curtseyed. Mr. Parkinson gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement.

"Fine wizard, Timothy is; fine wizard. Very distinguished family, the Notts. And Miss McIntyre is as pureblooded as anyone."

"Doug, don't they just look so adorable together?" Mrs. Parkinson was looking back and forth between Harry and Pansy.

Pansy caught Harry's eye and made a gagging motion. He choked back a snicker.

"Pansy is already betrothed, Lila. Surely you wouldn't want to insult Lucius by breaking it."

"No, certainly not, but you can't say that they don't make a good pair." She gazed pointedly at Harry. "And the Parkinsons are old money. We don't have to work for a living." Was she taking a subtle jab at the fact that Jamie McIntyre had to work, so Sadie obviously wasn't fabulously wealthy?

"Please forgive my wife," Mr. Parkinson said to Harry. "She has the romantic soul of a matchmaker."

Harry affirmed that no offence had been taken. Sadie and Harry held hands as Pansy led them off, and they circulated amongst the throng. Harry repeated the phrase, "Nice to meet you," so many times that he thought his tongue would fall out. Twenty minutes later they saw Tracy.

Tracy and Sadie gave simultaneous cries of delight and Tracy scooped Sadie up in her arms, kissing the smaller girl on the mouth. Cooed at each other and rubbed noses.

After she had relinquished Sadie, the blond girl threw her arms around Harry. "Hey, Harry!"

"Give him a kiss, too" Pansy suggested. "He'll go as red as a tomato."

Harry started turning red even at the idea. Tracy giggled in a wicked sort of way.

"There's mistletoe in every doorway," Pansy continued helpfully. "You'll get him eventually."

"Don't tease, Pansy, that's not kind," said Sadie.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "You're the Mistress of social graces now? I'm going off to deal with Theo whether you like it or not. Tracy, can you escort them around?"

"Love to."

Brainy Tracy, with her retentive memory, recalled names by the hundred as she mingled. She made countless introductions and set Harry's head to spinning so much that it seemed he was clinging to her arm to keep his balance. She had the grace of a butterfly, never letting one group keep them over-long, but lighting here and there around the ballroom.

At half eight, the lights dimmed slightly, and the orchestra began to play a series of slow tunes. Husbands and wives gravitated towards each other to sway in time with the music. Older sons and daughters snuck away to secluded corners. Younger children wandered away from all the mushiness, left to their own devices.

Pansy gathered up her friends one by one and led them all upstairs to her bedroom. It was a very pink place, from the walls to the bed covers. Pansy shoved her doll collection to the side and collapsed with a tired sigh.

"Oh, my feet," she complained.

"You OK?" asked Sadie anxiously. Pansy rolled her eyes at her.

"Pansy?" Theo asked, suddenly looking confused. "Where'd your body go? I can only see your head!"

Her pink robes didn't _quite _blend perfectly with her blankets, but the two shades were very close. Pansy stuck out her tongue and blew him a raspberry.

"Draco, has your dad said anything about the Heir?" Theo wanted to know.

"A few things. Did you know the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?"

"What?!"

Sadie turned her green face to him, her blue eyes widening.

"Fifty years ago," said Draco. "He won't tell me any details. Says it'll look suspicious if I know too much, but he did say that, last time, a Mudblood _died _."

"No!" said Sadie.

"That's what the legend means by 'purge the school' of those unworthy to study magic," said Draco. "The Beast will kill them all!"

"It can't happen. I won't let it happen," said Sadie.

"Silly girl. What do you think you can do about it?" scoffed Draco.

Tracy glared at him. "Don't talk to my sweet Sadie like that. You know how sensitive she is about anyone getting hurt. She's never got over a Muggle boy dying of a Muggle disease."

"You're a friend of Muggleborns now as well?" said Draco with a sneer. "Father says we all should just keep our heads down. That goes double for you, Sadie."

"Sounds like a plan," said Pansy.

"I've got a better plan," Tracy offered. "How about you handsome boys escort us girls down to the ballroom and we pretend like we're all grown up?"

"Wonderful," Daphne declared. She bounced up and seized Draco's hand. "C'mon, you."

"Under no circumstances!"

Daphne smirked. "No excuses, Malfoy. Now move it."

Daphne dragged Draco from the room as Millie linked arms with Goyle and Crabbe. Tracy latched onto Harry and Sadie, leaving Theo and Pansy glowering at each other.

"I'm not dancing with _him_," she declared.

"She's not dancing with _me _" he reiterated.

"C'mon guys, we can take it in turns to dance with each other," Sadie urged. She took Theo's hands. "What do you say, Theo?"

"Sadie, it would be my pleasure."

Confrontation avoided, the friends made their way down to the party and mingled among the adults again. Harry took Pansy by the hands. He heard Pansy's mother say, "I _told _you they looked good together."

"Is that what these parties are for?" he whispered to Pansy. "Just a chance to pair off the offspring?"

"It's vulgar to ask about it," said Pansy.

Harry mused on that for awhile. He was at the age where thoughts of girls and marriage and all that rot made him feel queasy. With a conscious effort, he considered how he would fit into the wizarding society's grand matrimonial plan.

He let it go and concentrated on not trodding heavily on Pansy's feet. Actually, she was doing most of the work of making sure his feet touched floor and not her shoes. Pansy was very graceful as they moved. Formal dancing lessons had been a part of growing up, she told him.

The song changed, and everyone changed partners. Harry found himself with Daphne. She looked up at him and made a terrific face. He snickered involuntarily and felt much more relaxed. Going round in circles was sort of fun, he concluded, if one had a good friend to do it with.

The next song, Harry and Sadie danced together. "Pansy's not keen on talking about marriages and what they're for," he told her.

"We marry for political advantage and material privilege and maintaining pureblood status," said Sadie. "If there's no love, there are magical ways around that, or so my Mum and Dad thought." Her mask rippled as her features beneath moved to form a grimace. "They had to get high on love potion to be together in the first place, but they had to separate eventually. The alternative would have been dosing themselves up on love potion forever to paint a picture of being man and wife."

Sadie had mentioned before that her mother and father voluntarily took love potion together so that they could have a pureblooded child – Sadie. Sadie didn't seem to have any problem talking about it, even though Pansy thought it a taboo.

Several songs later found Harry and Tracy together on the edge of the ballroom. Harry fought back a yawn as the clock chimed eleven. "I need a break," he begged off.

"Me too," Tracy said. Together they lounged in the door frame.

Suddenly, without warning, Tracy grabbed his face and kissed him full on the mouth. Harry recoiled with a start.

"Tracy, what-?"

She pointed above his head. There, hanging by a nail, was some of that blasted mistletoe.

"Did you _have _to?" he griped, wiping at his face.

"Yes."


	15. Chapter 15

**Harry in Sadieland**

When Harry woke the next morning, he was still so very tired from the party. It was dark outside and the wind howled. It was the witching hour. He yawned hugely and seriously debated rolling over and drifting off again. Alas, such a decision was not to be left up to him, because Theo knocked on his door a few seconds later.

"Harry? Rise and shine!"

"It's too early," said Harry.

"No it isn't," said Theo. "It's not too early for our nutty friend to have got herself in trouble doing something crazy."

Harry jumped up at once. "Do you mean Sadie's in trouble?" He demanded.

"Come and see for yourself," said Theo.

Harry followed Theo to the library. It was dark. The star lamps near the ceiling barely glimmered. They ran past the towering oaken bookshelves. Some of the books whispered at them as they passed.

Theo opened the door to the arboretum. Sadie was lying there, surrounded by a ring of toadstools. She was asleep, or so it seemed. Her eyes were closed and her green mask of a face was still. Her long purple hair lay loose about her. Her hands were clasped on her chest. She was glowing with a ghostly aura…

Chip, the ugly purple homunculus, staggered into view. He was wearing a paper mask with a smiley face on it. "Hello, Theo. Hello, Harry," he said in a piping voice. "I've heard so much about you. Mummy's asleep. I think she can't wake up."

"Sadie!" said Harry, starting forward.

Theo held out an arm, barring his way. "Hang on…"

There was an open book beside Sadie. Theo peered at the words on the vellum and frowned. "She's been trying a transcendence spell. Obviously too advanced for a second year. Not surprising she can't do it."

"But you know how to do it, Theo?" squeaked Chip. "Mummy says your clever. Or does Harry know? Mummy says he's wonderful and could do anything."

Harry blushed. "I don't think I can do anything. We have to get Mr Nott."

"We may not have time," said Theo, studying the text. "She won't wake unless someone goes into her dream and pulls her out. And if we wait, it might be too late."

Harry felt a chill to his stomach. "Then what do I do?"

"Lie down beside her," said Theo.

Harry lay down beside Sadie in the ring of toadstools.

"Linking you to her dream is the easy part," said Theo. "The hard part is you finding her and waking her up."

Theo looked at the vellum page and muttered some words. He touched his wand to Harry's forehead and then to Sadie's. Harry felt his head spinning, then felt himself hurtling up, up and up… out of the arboretum and into a maelstrom of swirling shapes and bright lights…

Then he alighted in a field of bright pastel colours. The grass was vivid green and there was a sun overhead, looking nearer than the sun does in the real world, as though it were a great yellow lamp. Harry was standing on a yellow brick path. There were mushrooms surrounding him, all over the field. He felt strangely light. So he was now in Sadie's dream?

At that moment, there was a tinkling sound. He gave a start as a tiny fairy popped into view in front of him. She looked like Sadie had before her disfigurement, with a cute little heart shaped face and a freckled nose and cheeks. She was dressed in shining white robes and seemed to glow with light. "Harry!" she hugged his face. "Thank you for coming. I love you so much!"

"Who are you? Are you Sadie?" demanded Harry.

The fairy-girl chuckled. "I'm her light side!"

"You're light Sadie?"

"That's right, hon. I wanna bring joy to the world. I want to so much, I could sing about it!"

She started singing in a shrill little voice, wavering and off-key like Sadie's singing voice.

"I bring joy joy joy joy…!

"Don't," said Harry, "Listen, we've got to wake Sadie up…"

At that moment, there was a puff of glittering, purple smoke on the path nearby. It coalesced to form another tiny Sadie, this one with Sadie's green mask and purple robes.

"I'm Dark Sadie," she squeaked. She hugged Harry's leg. "Love ya! You've come cos you wanna help me do charitable work. I'd love to volunteer in a Muggle clinic. Or even a soup kitchen."

"No!" said Harry. "We've got to wake Sadie up. The erm… real Sadie."

"Oh!" Dark Sadie gazed up at him with wide blue eyes. "You mean her? The one who calls the shots around here?"

"Definitely!" said Light Sadie. "She lives over there…" The little fairy girl pointed into the distance, where Harry could make out a huge block of flats. Was it his imagination, or where they roughly mushroom shaped?

"How're we going to get all the way there?" he demanded.

Light Sadie giggled. "Oh Harry, you are funny! You're the best flier there is. Just concentrate hard and you'll get the broomstick your heart desires."

Harry thought hard about a broomstick. "Wishing makes it true," said Light Sadie in her tinkling voice.

A broom shimmered into view in front of him. It resembled his Nimbus, except the numbers on it were hard to make out. Harry straddled the broom. Light Sadie alighted on his right shoulder and Dark Sadie crawled onto his left.

"I hate it when you fly," said Dark Sadie, her little high voice trembling. "I hate when you play Quidditch and have those idiots whacking iron balls at you. I get worried sick."

"Come, be light-hearted and fun," chimed Light Sadie. "We should support Harry in his passions, even if they're dreadful sports."

"You're a ditz," said Dark Sadie, sniffling.

Harry kicked off and found himself soaring into the air. But it wasn't light real flying. The wind didn't rush in his face. It was a dream flight…

He found himself drawn to a window high up the block and slipped through. He found himself in a darkened room. The Sadie he knew was here, dressed in a white gown. Her green mask was stuck on her face. Her purple hair was spread out around her. Her eyes were tight shut.

"Sadie?" called Harry. He shook her gently.

"She won't wake that easily," said Light Sadie sadly.

"There is a way. By showing her memories," said Dark Sadie. "Make her remember who she is. There are screenings down below."

It transpired that Harry had to fly out of the window, clutching Sadie, with Light Sadie and Dark Sadie perching on his shoulders! As they flew, the sun set, and a ghostly glowing orb arose – the Moon of Sadie's dream world. A ghostly galleon, tossed on a cloudy sea. It's ethereal light shone on another crystal dome in which there were images playing.

Harry and the Sadies alighted. They found rows upon rows of carved stone seats, with a crowd of Sadie replicas sitting in them. Some had green masks, others her pretty face of old. Harry squeezed into a large seat and let Sadie lean against him. Another Sadie leapt in front of them. "Hey Harry! Hey Harry!" she jumped around in front of them, faster than Daphne on a coffee high.

"The Energetic Sadie," said Light Sadie. "Every one of us is a different side to her character."

Energetic Sadie ran off.

Another Sadie tiptoed in front of them. This one had a green mask and was wrapped in a purple hooded cloak. She bowed to them. "I'm the Sadie who just wants to entertain." She held up a bunch of flowers. These morphed into hissing serpents and Harry shrank back instinctively, yelling: "_Stop_!" The word came out in Parseltongue.

The snakes went limp like wilting flowers. "Aren't they cute?" giggled Entertainer Sadie.

"Stop messing about, the show's going to begin," said Dark Sadie.

The great crystal orb in front of them shimmered, and images began to play.

"Watch this," said Dark Sadie.

The image showed Sadie and Harry in the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore and Quirrell were there too.

"I thank you for saving me, my darling child," Quirrell was saying to Sadie. "I have my soul again. Magic is but little loss."

So this was a memory of the previous summer, after Sadie saved Quirrell by exorcising Voldemort.

"Sadie. You have to watch this," said Harry. But Sadie leaned against him, still asleep.

Another memory flashed in front of their eyes. It was of Harry's first Quidditch match, where his broom was malfunctioning because of Quirrell's hex, jerking and bucking and trying to throw him off.

The crowd of Sadies gave a groan. "I hate this one so much," said Dark Sadie. "It makes me sick."

"I agree," said Light Sadie glumly.

An old memory flashed in front of their eyes. It appeared to be Tracy and Sadie when they were little. Maybe about three. Sadie had strawberry blond hair. "Ugh! A mouse!" Toddler Tracy was saying, pointing at a pink mouse standing on the rug, its little whiskers twitching.

"He's my li'l friend," said Tiny Sadie. "He's so sweet. Here Pinkie." She held out a piece of cake to the mouse which ran up her arm and onto her shoulder. She giggled.

"Do you like it better 'n me?" demanded Toddler Tracy.

"No. I love you," said Sadie, kissing her on the cheek.

"These next ones are real classics," said Light Sadie. "I hope they replay them forever."

The next image was of the time they were racing Quirrell to the Philosopher's Stone. The others had helped them get pass the obstacles in the way, but never knew Quirrell was working with Voldemort. Even now, only Harry and Sadie knew that Voldemort orchestrated everything. As far as the others knew, Quirrell had been placed under the Imperius Curse by an evil foreign wizard.

Sadie had a very vivid memory of hugging and kissing Tracy goodbye outside the flame door, when they had solved Snape's riddle.

"I think the next memory is even better…" said Dark Sadie. "Maybe the one to keep in that locket she gave you?"

Harry recognised the next scene as the one at Malfoy Manor, the previous Christmas. His old nightmare of Voldemort was troubling him, so he had crawled into Sadie's bed. She had her arms around him as he slept peacefully. "I wouldn't let anything happen to you," said Sadie in his ear. "I love you so much."

Harry became aware of a shadow looming over them. He jumped, and saw a huge, bright green reptilian monster looming over them. A mighty dragon! But it was sitting still and gazing at them with big blue eyes. Sadie's eyes.

"Weird. What an image," chirped Light Sadie. "Who on Earth would suppose love is like a reptilian monster suddenly materialising inside you?"

"She wants you to kiss her," murmured Dark Sadie. "Then she'll wake."

"Right." Harry cupped Sadie's face in his hands and kissed the lips of her mask. Immediately, the dream world spun around him, a mixture of swirling shapes and colours…

* * *

00O00

He awoke in the arboretum and sat bolt upright. Beside him, Sadie was stirring. She sat up and smiled as she gazed around at them all. "Hey guys. Sorry, I'm feeling a bit woozy. What happened?"

Harry glared at her. "You gave us a fright, doing something stupid. You were in an enchanted sleep."

"Aw, hon," Sadie put her arms around him. "So sorry I scared you. I was stupid."

"You're back, Mummy," squeaked Chip, tottering up to her.

She scooped him up in her arms and kissed his smiley mask. "Of course, Chip. We're always here for each other now. We lost you once. Never again."

"What were you thinking, trying to transcend?" said Theo, shaking his head. "You're a second year, and you're not even top of the year. Not even second or third in our year. To think, you've lectured me about recklessness."

"I'm silly, aren't I?" said Sadie.

* * *

00O00

Harry looked forward to the Solstice Ceremony with some trepidation. He was only going in case Sadie did something else stupid. It was held at Malfoy Manor. This time seemed to be a different ceremony to last time. They went outside the Manor, to a field behind the Manor.

"As our guest, Miss McIntyre can play the role of Dark Priestess on this, the Longest Night," said Lucius Malfoy.

Sadie had wrapped herself in her purple hooded robe. She was carrying Chip in a baby carrier. There was a stone altar in the field. The Malfoys stood near it, and Harry uneasily hovered nearby.

"Now the Priestess ushers in an era of Darkness," said Lucius. "We are the observers."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Just got to have the spotlight, haven't you Sadie? Even though you can't play Quidditch."

Sadie smiled at him. "No spotlight. Just Darkness." She turned to Harry. "Don't worry, love. It's only acting. Like our play in November when we acted the Tale of the Three Brothers."

"Wish I could have seen that. It would have been a laugh," said Draco cheekily.

Sadie set Chip on the stone altar. Her high voice rose in a chant as she shouted a garble of weird syllables to the night and then began to speak in English, using a stiff, stilted voice, quite unlike her own:

"Child, you were taken from this world by a cruel affliction. You fell into the Earth's entrails. Now I declare that nature relinquishes her claim on you. You are the first to be reborn through Darkness. The light ends. The dead shall rise."

She raised her hands in the air. "RISE!"

She glared at the Malfoys. "Do you accept the rules of nature."

"No," said Lucius. "We live by magic."

"And magic knows no natural law and knows no logic," said Sadie, in that stiff voice. "So henceforth, let all magic be known as Dark. Darkness!"

"Darkness!" repeated the Malfoys.

This was a little too weird for Harry. He was glad when it was over.

They ate fruit, cheese and coffee as a snack afterwards.

"It is a shame that you cannot attend our official Christmas Celebration, Mr Potter," said Lucius. "Everyone of note will be there. Even the Minister for Magic."

Sadie was gazing at Harry through the eyeholes in her mask. Her blue eyes were anxious. "Thank you for the offer, Mr Malfoy, Sir," said Harry, "but Christmas Day is strictly a time for family."

Sadie smiled. Had she supposed he would choose the Minister over his mother, or something? He would do anything to keep his mother happy, even if it meant getting roped into the McIntyres' charitable work.

* * *

00O00

Before Harry knew it, Christmas was here. He awoke in Hill House to the sight of Sadie's green masked face close to his, their noses almost touching.

"Happy Christmas," said Sadie, grinning at him. She thrust a tray of French toast, jam and tea at him. Sadie was considerate like that. Didn't want to let breakfast slip his mind.

She leaned over Cora next. The hag was asleep in the bed beside Harry, and didn't mind waking up to the sight of Sadie's disfigured face against hers. "How are you feeling, dear?" asked Sadie, smoothing the hag's red hair.

Cora's eyelids fluttered. "I've got a craving for marmalade and beetles, precious pumpkins." She sat up. Her pregnancy was progressing. There was a definite bulge around her midriff now.

"I'll get them," squeaked Chip, who had stumbled into the room.

"Aw, Chip, you're so helpful. I'm so proud of you," said Sadie. She sat herself beside Cora. "Pregnancy really suits you," she gushed, practically twitching with excitement. "You're so radiant."

Harry felt weird and uncomfortable with anyone gushing over his mother like that, even a girl. To Harry, Cora was his mother, not pretty or ugly or anything like that.

Cora touched her green cheek and smiled. Her face did look shiny. Sadie had mentioned something about pregnancy hormones. The hag put an arm around Sadie's shoulder. "Thank you, darling. You're so kind. Professor Lockhart will be so pleased when our baby comes. We've got to pick out a name."

Great. Lockhart and his mother together. That was more than weird and uncomfortable as far as Harry was concerned. It was downright impossible.

* * *

00O00

The Christmas tree was the focus of the living room. Standing some ten feet high, the angel on top cast out a bright golden light, bathing the room in the glow. Lights and balls and garlands decorated the tree branches. The whole room smelled richly of pine.

Harry's gifts were as varied as those who gave them. Theo's was a book on 'Easy Defensive Magic.' Harry had got Theo the same thing. Mr. Nott's gift to Harry was a miniature model of the solar system, contained within a glass dome. It was a beautiful thing; each of the moons glimmered in place around the planets and the fiery sun, all of them hanging in thin air beneath the glass. He had seen similar objects in Diagon Alley but had been put off by the cost. He got a handmade quilt from Tracy - it seemed she had quite the knack for crafts. A book on Quidditch teams from Millie, a snitch shaped clock which flew from Daphne, a series of Wizarding Middle Grade books from Cora, and a Magical Record Player from Draco. Wizards are always behind with copying Muggle things. They consider an old vinyl record player to be cutting edge.

It had been simple to get a gift for Sadie. Since she had a fascination with Necromancy, he had sent off for a newly published tome entitled "The Dead Shall Rise" which included anecdotes about the work of Muggle-Born Wizards disaffected by the Magical World. Unable to find a place in the nest of nepotism, bribery and corruption that is the British Wizarding World, they had returned to the Muggle World and combined science and magic to find out ways of reanimating corpses and whether there is a way to rekindle the life spark in the dead. One such Muggle Born was Victor Frankenstein.

Sadie was delighted and hugged Harry, gushing about how kind he was to think of her.

Inside a little purple parcel was Harry's present from Sadie, a fine snow globe. Inside was Hogwarts castle, with small golems of Harry, Sadie, and their friends playing in the snow.

"We've gotta appreciate our friends," said Sadie. "Even if we can't always tell them the truth."

An odd mix of sentiments.

She tapped the snow globe. "The scene will change with the seasons. It's winter now. Let's hope it's not forever."

Jamie had got Sadie a special gift. A little ginger kitten. Sadie's toad was still afflicted with the firebreathing curse, as of the previous December. Sadie squealed with delight as she took the kitten into her arms. "I'll call him Dennis," she decided.

"Sounds Muggly," said Jamie.

"Colin's brothers name," said Sadie with a sigh. Colin Creevey had been petrified by the mysterious Heir of Slytherin.

That afternoon, the time came round for the voluntary work Sadie and Jamie did at this time of year. Sadie was in her lab, engrossed in a weird experiment with a dead spider. She put a droplet of a purple potion onto it with a pipette. There was a puff of purple smoke, and the spider began to twitch.

"OK, that's a start," said Sadie.

Harry didn't even want to know about it.

"Charity time!" said Jamie. "We get to help some poor Muggles and bring them some happiness. Never mind the Ministry and their micro-managing."

"Oh, Darkness, yes!" said Sadie, jumping up and clapping her little hands together.

Harry smiled to see her so enthusiastic, even though the charity work wasn't exactly his idea of fun.

Sadie picked up Dennis the kitten. "Aw, Dennis, you've been leaving hairs about the place," she cooed. "I do too. The purple ones are mine." She picked up a long purple hair from her pillow.

Chip came tottering in. "Do we get to help the Muggles, Mummy?"

"Yes," said Sadie. "If only we could do more.

In the Phoenix Clinic, there were rows of beds with sick Muggles. Jamie and Sadie entered, with Cora and Harry following. Jamie was dressed in green robes and held a glowing silver orb conjured by magic. Sadie held a small purple orb and was wrapped in her purple hooded cloak.

Harry had nothing to do but sit about as his mother read to one of the Muggle kids. Jamie and Sadie tended to the patients.

Sadie hugged a Muggle girl with an ashy pale face. "Now you have a heart condition? You poor thing. I know how dangerous that is."

Chip squatted on the end of the bed.

"Take off your mask," said the girl, narrowing her eyes.

"Sorry. Can't do that," said Sadie. "I can heal you."

"What're your qualifications?" demanded the girl.

Sadie showed her silver snake amulet. "The symbol of Asclepius. He could bring back the dead."

"S' right," squeaked Chip.

"Here." Sadie held up a little phial of her purple potion. "You can live forever. Your Mum and Dad won't have to live in fear of a sudden shock taking you away from them."

The girl swallowed the potion which made her throat glow for an instant. "I do feel better now, actually," she admitted.

"Live forever," murmured Sadie. "We can do without fear. We can do without death."

* * *

00O00

A few shorts days later it was time for the New Year celebration at Tracy's. The evening found Harry in borrowed dress robes, a white number that made him wonder how he was supposed to have any fun if his robes showed the slightest bit of dirt. He'd taken his complaint to Jamie, but had been brushed off.

"The new year is symbolic," she explained. "A new day dawning, and all that. Hence, we wear light colours."

"Harry ought to wear what we wants," demurred Sadie.

"You don't set the dress code," said Jamie firmly. "And you can't wear that purple cloak, or bring Chip to this one."

"Just as well Cora will look after him," sniffed Sadie.

Harry was largely expecting the New Year's Eve party to be much the same as the Christmas party: mostly boring with scattered moments of fun. It was a pleasant surprise, therefore, to be greeted with raucously loud music upon exiting the Floo. They cast off their protective charms (the very thought of all that soot on the white robes was horrifying) and were drawn into the crowd of people dancing to the band.

Whirling around, being bounced left and right, not having a clue what he was doing, Harry was having a blast. He had never felt so carefree. There was nothing that existed past the party - those things would be dealt with in the new year. Now there was only fun, celebration, and merriment. Harry laughed aloud with sheer relief.

Sadie was hovering uneasily near the crowd. She twirled a strand of her purple hair in her fingers. "These bright colours, all this symbolism… it's … a lot," she said.

Harry caught her by the hands. She gave a little squeak of surprise as he pulled her into an improvised dance. She laughed and danced along.

Time passed as quick as an eye blink, and the music stopped as the countdown began. All eyes were fixed on the clock. Thirty seconds.

Tracy squeezed Harry's hand in her right hand and Sadie's in her left. "Having fun?"

"Loads of fun!" Sadie assured her. "Thank you for inviting us."

"Your family a great party," said Harry.

"Glad you could both make it."

Twenty seconds.

Daphne handed Harry a glass of pumpkin juice, and he drank deeply. The frosty beverage had never tasted more refreshing.

Ten seconds.

"Bye-bye, nineteen ninety-two!"

Five seconds.

Four, three, two, one.

"Happy New Year!" the crowd roared in unison.

Tracy leaned up and pulled Harry and Sadie into a group hug, kissing Sadie on the mouth and Harry on the cheek. "Happy New Year, Lovelies."

"Happy New Year, my loves," murmured Sadie.

Harry's cheek burned where Tracy had kissed him. "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, Harry!" Daphne exclaimed. To Harry's intense shock, she hugged him hard and bounced up to kiss his other cheek.

"H-happy New Year, Daphne," he stammered. He felt slightly confused. Was Daphne on a caffeine high?

"Happy New Year!" the girls said to each other as they hugged.

Harry spent five minutes or so doing nothing but saying 'Happy New Year' to everyone in sight. All his friends, and their parents and relatives. He felt like his tongue would fall out if he had to say it one more time.

"Blah, blah, blah," Draco said as he rolled his eyes in Harry's direction.

"And so on, and so on, and so on," Theo contributed.


	16. Chapter 16

**The Mysterious Diary**

Harry and Sadie arrived at King's Cross station early to catch the Hogwarts Express. They wouldn't leave for an hour, but already their trunks were loaded. Theo arrived shortly afterwards and the trio claimed a prime compartment for their little clique. Harry collapsed into his seat with a sigh of relief.

Sadie sat herself on a seat. Since she was so small and thin, Chip and Dennis the kitten were able to share the seat.

Theo reached into his trunk and extracted a book. He curled up in his seat with the thing, and a look of contentment settled on his face.

"What're you reading, Theo?" asked Sadie interested.

"Lenora de la Croix. Now shush," said Theo.

Harry wasn't sure who that author was, but apparently her life story was completely absorbing to Theo.

Sadie pulled a yellowed comic from her bag and set it in front of Chip. "Look Chip. You say you always liked the Beano? Here…" she rifled through the pages. "The Bash Street Kids. Look at this – the Head's cutting school funds so the Bash Street Kids all have to write on one sheet of paper with no light or heating in the classroom, while the Head sits in his office with caviar and champagne…"

Theo looked up. "Can you not go on about that Muggle rubbish? I'm trying to read."

Chip held the comic. The purple homonculus' face was hidden by a paper mask with a smiley face drawn on it. "The Bash Street Kids are funny, Theo. Bash Street School is strange… like Hogwarts."

"Yes, I suppose Hogwarts is equally strange to Muggles," said Sadie.

"You'd know all about strange," remarked Theo.

Sadie glanced furtively around and took out a worn library book – was it from the Nott's library? – and wrapped it in a schmaltzy vampire/witch romance aimed at twelve year old girls, so that it would look as though she were reading that instead. Harry was about to retrieve his own light reading, _Seeker Tactics_, when a tapping at the glass startled him. It was an eagle owl, holding a roll of parchment in his talons. The bird squeezed through the open window and dropped it in Harry's lap. Harry held out an owl treat as reward. The owl crunched it down in two quick bites and flew away as Harry read his letter.

It was from Flint. "'Dear team,'" it began. "'A family situation has arisen, and I am unable to return to Hogwarts this year. In my absence, I name Miles as team captain. Be strong, win, and don't leave my name off the Quidditch Cup.'" Harry could barely believe what he was reading. "'Up Slytherin, Marcus.'"

"Oh no!" Sadie looked up, her green face crinkling in worry. "I really hope they're alright."

Theo had looked up from his book as well. "Doesn't that just foul things up, with the Quidditch?"

"I do wonder what the family emergency is," Harry pondered. "It must be serious, if he's not coming back to school."

"I know, I know," said Sadie grimacing and shaking her head so that her dyed hair rippled and bounced.

"He'll have to repeat his seventh year," Theo noted. "

"He's our best Chaser, no contest," said Harry. "And he's a captain who won't stand nonsense from even the roughest boys. I don't know how we can replace him."

"Replace who?" Millie asked as she sprawled on the seat next to Harry. "Hullo, Sadie, Theo."

"Heyy," grinned Sadie, touching her arm.

"Hi, Millie," said Theo, not looking up.

"Flint," Harry answered her. "He's skiving off the rest of the year."

"Skiving?"

"Noo!" said Sadie. "It's a family crisis."

"Poor Flint," said Millie, tutting. "So, Warrington finally gets to play, huh?"

" He's our top reserve Chaser. I can't imagine that Miles would fill Flint's position with anyone else."

"Yes, but you're not Bletchley."

"Well of course not."

Harry and Millie began debating the finer points of Chaser tactics, a discussion that lasted several hours and the other Slytherins arrived one by one and got roped into the conversation. With the uncertainty coming from a change in captain, there would be a greater onus on Harry to win games.

"Sounds like they're gonna put a lot of pressure on you," said Sadie to Harry. "Quidditch – it's nothing but stress."

"You're bitter because you couldn't play to save your life," drawled Draco.

"Don't talk to my girl like that?" said Tracy, glaring at Draco. She leaned down and kissed the top of Sadie's head.

"What is this Quidditch, Mummy?" asked Chip. "You said before that you don't like it."

"You don't like Quidditch?" said Draco. "You don't know you're born."

"It – um - it creates so much division between the houses," said Sadie, shifting on her seat and looking uncomfortable.

The trolley witch came by at that point.

"Hello! I don't remember you!" said Chip. "But I'm happy to meet you. Mummy always says to be kind to strangers."

The trolley witch did not seem weirded out by Chip. "Anything from the trolley, dear?" she said. That's what she said to everyone.

"Now, Chip. You may have one pack of candy," said Sadie. "Remember, don't eat too much candy. Every flavour beans are the most interesting."

Sadie bought a small pack of every flavour beans and put them on her lap, sorting through them. "These all look fine for you to try, except this one," she picked up a glowing white bean. "I'd better eat this one in case it's too gross for you." She chewed on it. "Mm. Ectoplasm. Tasty."

Millie brought out a deck of cards at that point. She dealt out a hand to everyone and started the game off. Theo promptly folded and went back to his book. He didn't get quiet in the carriage though, with the exclamations from the card players and Sadie loudly talking to Chip about candy and letting her clean his mouth.

Harry started on his Seeker book. He would need every Seeker trick he could learn in order to help his team win. By the time the train finally lumbered into Hogsmeade station, Harry felt restless enough that he wanted to grab his broom and play a pick-up game right then. Several of the manoeuvres in the book seemed brilliant, and he wanted to test them out.

"If only Weasley played Quidditch," he said regretfully as he packed away his book.

"Got some new tricks, have you?" Daphne asked.

"Hopefully."

New tricks were exactly what Harry needed. With Miles now team captain, they drilled every day, even stealing the pitch from Gryffindor on one occasion. Warrington caught on fast. He became a very aggressive player almost on Flint's level. Miles slowly moulded his Chasers into a unified offensive force, with Bole and Derrick providing counter-defensive support.

Their next match was six weeks away, and only against Hufflepuff, but Miles acted as though they were playing Gryffindor in only two days. He took his new responsibility very seriously and worked the team like a slave driver. Harry and the others grumbled about it, chalking it up to some sort of rare disease that only infected Quidditch captains, but they all understood the necessity.

* * *

00O00

The Quidditch match approached with a charged atmosphere. No one thought about House Unity anymore. Almost no one came to Hogwarts Togetherness that month. Harry only came out of loyalty to Sadie.

"No one wants to make the effort," said Tracy nonchalantly, examining her pink painted nails. "Even that Hermione Granger thinks she's too good to come now, apparently."

"This is so stupid," said Sadie, looking close to tears. "How can everyone getting on be a bad thing?"

"I know, dear," said Professor Charity Burbage, the Professor in charge, putting an arm around the small girl's shoulders.

"It's the Heir of Slytherin business," said Lucas.

"That does indeed reignite historic tensions between the houses," said Charity.

Chip put his stumpy arms around Sadie's leg. "Don't be sad, Mummy. I'll still come."

"Yes, honey, you will," said Sadie, picking him up and kissing his smiley mask.

* * *

00O00

Sadie's birthday was in January, and Harry got her a special globe of the moon with a distortion lens. One that distorted moonlight for Dark purposes when it was the full Moon. He had asked Lucius Malfoy about such things and they had arranged for it to be sent from Knockturn Alley. Apparently Lucius knew the owner of a Dark items shop quite well.

Sadie hugged and kissed him in thanks. "You're so sweet and thoughtful," she cooed.

Tracey had got her a jar of dark creature eyeballs and Pansy a weird perfume.

"Eau de decay, or something like that," said Pansy smirking. "I think it's for vampire ladies, actually."

Sadie sprayed some on her hand and tested it. "That's the sickly sweet scent of decay… I like it!"

The mood of the castle improved a little. Everyone began to wonder if the threat from the Heir of Slytherin had passed. Lockhart was heard to boast that he had apprehended the culprit behind all the attacks, slain the beast, and managed not to get his perfect hair disshevelled.

Harry personally didn't believe a word of it. His doubt was to prove well-founded on Sunday the 31st. Harry was writing a Potions assignment when he and his mates heard a commotion in the hall. As they investigated, the milling crowd drew them to the common room.

"There's been another attack," said Morgana the Head Girl, her face pale. "Emily Cox, a sixth year Hufflepuff. Thankfully she's not dead. Only petrified."

There was a sudden hubbub. "Ssh!" said Morgana, glaring at them. "I'm instituting the following rules: no Slytherin is to even so much as visit the loo by him or herself. Travel in groups of at least three people. There will also be a curfew imposed: nobody leaves the dorm after dinner without the knowledge and permission of a prefect."

That last rule evoked angry protests. Morgana glared and they all fell silent. "This is for our own protection! If we're not careful, one of us could be used as a scapegoat."

Still not pleased, the students drifted back to their respective dorms. Harry sat back down to finish his Potions homework. He didn't feel like talking; it would just be the same points raised yet again. Nobody had anything new to add. The knowledge that he, Harry, was suspected by much of the school was frustrating. Even on a night such as this night, when he had a rock-solid alibi, there were those like Weasley who would say that his friends were just covering up for him.

_A shame that the Heir won't attack a pure-blood. Weasley would make a fantastic statue. _

"What are you grinning about?" Theo asked.

"Just picturing Weasley being turned to stone."

"Is that your next plan?" Crabbe asked brightly.

"Not _my _plan," Harry clarified.

"It would improve Weasley no end," Draco agreed.

* * *

00O00

Emily's petrification had consequences Harry did not anticipate. The second year Slytherins were in Potions lecture when the door slammed open with a bang! All eyes snapped to the back of the room where Jamie Davis slumped against the door frame. Her hair was dishevelled, her face was red, and her chest was rising and falling as she breathed heavily.

"Professor!" she gasped. "Maddy needs help! Lockhart says she's the Heir of Slytherin!"

Snape's eyes narrowed.

"Take over here."

Snape strode purposefully from the classroom, his black robes flowing like the wings of some avenging bat. The gleam in his eyes and the set of his jaw said that he had finally had enough of Lockhart. Yes! Harry thought.

At the back, Jamie was hunched over with her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. When she straightened up and walked down the aisle to Snape's desk, her face was still flushed; evidently she'd gone from Herbology to the dungeons at a dead run.

"What was Professor Snape lecturing about?" she asked as she scanned the chalkboard. She glanced down at Snape's notes.

"He was about to let us leave early," said Tracy.

"Not likely," Jamie retorted. "Raise your hand if you want to speak."

"He'd just got done with lobridoon," Weasley informed Jamie. "He was just mentioning the next topic when you came charging in."

"Five points from Gryffindor for not raising your hand, Weasley, as I _just _instructed," Jamie glowered at him. "What _is _it with Gryffindors not being able to follow simple instructions? Lines, Weasley, two hundred of them: 'I will obey the Hogwarts prefects,' to be turned in to me by the end of the week."

Even with Snape not present, Weasley still got in trouble. His face flushed an ugly red, and he ducked his head. Jamie's eyes were hard as stone as she made sure he was done.

"Very well, the professor's notes indicate that he planned to discuss doxwood. Doxwood is a plant commonly found in Ireland. It looks like this." The prefect waved her wand and created an illusion. "Note the funny-looking leaves. Now then, the raw doxwood is good for aiding the digestion. The juice, extracted in the common fashion, is of great use in the brewing of potions because it causes a more rapid absorption effect. This can be important for certain potions that take time to have an effect, such as the Impervious Potion."

Jamie conducted the lecture with an efficiency that Snape would have found admirable. She was a smart girl, Harry knew. She hadn't been named a prefect for her happy smile. The class was very nearly ordinary. Snape's cool influence was obvious in the manner in which Jamie delivered the material. She even asked several questions to test them, and she awarded points for correct answers, docking them for mistakes.

Snape returned shortly before the end of the class. He slipped silently through the door and stood at the back, watching Jamie teach. Harry noticed the man only because he was reaching for his quill sharpener at the time. Jamie noticed him, of course, but, to her credit, she didn't let it distract her. She lectured right up to the bell.

"One and a half feet on the properties of doxwood. Include three examples of potions where you believe doxwood juice to of use and defend your reasoning," Snape called out over the noise as students hurried to put away quills, ink, and texts. Harry loitered outside the classroom.

"Miss Davis, I was most pleased with your lecture," said Snape.

"Thank you, Sir." Jamie beamed. "There was one mouthy Gryffindor, but they were pretty well-behaved overall. The Slytherins were angels, of course."

"Of course. Twenty points to Slytherin for outstanding performance under unexpected circumstances."

"Thank you, sir," she repeated. "How's Maddy? Is everything well?"

Snape's self-satisfied smile spoke volumes. "Miss Fitzjean has gone to an early lunch. I expect she's waiting for you."

"And Lockhart?" Jamie asked distastefully. "Please tell me you killed him."

The teacher chuckled briefly. "Not that I didn't consider it," he admitted. "There can be no excuse for his behaviour."

"What did you do?"

"I'm afraid that's a matter left between teachers," he gently admonished.

Jamie grinned. "Yes, sir," she said, rising up on her toes and clicking her heels together. She left the dungeon classroom with a spring in her step.

"Mister Potter, eavesdropping is a bad habit," Snape called out reprovingly.

Harry jumped. _How the deuce did Snape know? _He rolled around the corner and back into the room.

"Sorry, Sir."

"Is there any particular reason you are loitering outside my classroom?"

"I just wanted to hear what you did to Lockhart," Harry said candidly. "I really don't like that git."

Snape's lips twitched. "I believe you. I'm sure the story will be all over the school even before the day is out."

* * *

00O00

It was time for Slytherin to face Hufflepuff on a cold, wintery pitch.

Harry felt no butterflies at all as he took a warm-up lap. The team had worked so hard since coming back from holiday, there was no doubt that they would win. They had prepared as much as humanly possible, and they _were _the best team at Hogwarts. Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff Seeker, waved cheekily at him as they crossed paths. Harry found such mirth disconcerting and highly inappropriate. Hufflepuff was destined to be flattened today, and this fool could only grin like an idiot.

Slytherin took first possession, naturally, and Pucey, Montague, and Warrington went tearing down the pitch. They passed the Quaffle back and forth with a quickness, never giving the Hufflepuff Chasers a chance to intercept. Pucey faked twice, and Warrington sent the Quaffle through the lowest hoop for the points.

"Slytherin scores the first goal," announcer Lee Jordan dispassionately told the crowd. "Ten points."

Harry cheered with the sea of green and silver as he whipped a quick spiral. "Go, Warrington!"

Hufflepuff passed the Quaffle back out to the Chasers and promptly lost it again, as the Slytherin Beaters bashed the Bludgers in their direction. Harry was relieved to see that both iron balls were acting normally again.

Harry tore his gaze from the game; he knew perfectly well how outstanding his team was. It was his responsibility to find and catch that Snitch. He scanned the pitch from end to end.

"Slytherin scores again," Jordan announced. "The score is now twenty to zero. Come on, Hufflepuff, show some life out there!"

It was nice to see that Jordan's personal feelings would not colour his commentary. Where was that Snitch?

Harry absently dodged a Bludger and watched Pucey and Montague soar by, tossing the Quaffle between them. One of the Hufflepuff Chasers took a dive at Pucey, hoping to knock him out of the way and intercept the ball.

"Harry!" Montague shouted - and he lobbed the Quaffle to the Seeker!

This was a trick Harry had discovered in _Seeker Tactics_. While there was a rule that only the Chasers and Keepers could _handle _the Quaffle, there was nothing against what Harry now did.

Harry lined up his manoeuvre carefully and then spun in the air, using the tail of his broom just like a bat! The Quaffle gave a resounding smack and flew directly into Warrington's waiting hands. He was down the pitch and had sent the ball through the middle hoop before Hufflepuff's Keeper could react.

"Warrington scores for Slytherin on the assist from Potter," Jordan said. "I'm sure that's illegal, but there's no call from Madam Hooch. There should be, but there isn't. Thirty-nothing, Slytherin."

"Good man, Harry!" Bletchley shouted downfield. "Find the Snitch!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Harry wagged back. Once the golden ball came out of hiding, it would be in his hand.

"And Diggory takes off like a shot!" Jordan crowed. "He must have seen the Snitch!"

"Potter!" Bletchley screamed.

Harry pointed his broom towards Diggory and leaned forward with a zoom. His eyes scanned vigilantly all around, but he couldn't see the Snitch! Diggory looked back over his shoulder, no doubt checking to see how close Harry was. Then he grinned and turned front again as Harry closed in.

Diggory dove! Harry swore and dove after him. They were fairly high up, the two Seekers, but that ground was coming up awful quick. All of a sudden Diggory broke off, yanking the shaft of his broom up sharply and climbing away.

It was a fake! Harry was only metres from eating a dirt sandwich! He hauled back on his broom, but he wasn't going to level out in time! He had only seconds! Harry braced his heels on the tail of his Nimbus 2000, pulling himself nearly vertical. He felt a bone-jarring thud as the butt of the broom connected with the ground. Hundreds of thin, delicate twigs snapped with a sound like a thousand eggs cracking. His entire body shook with the shock, and he barely stayed on the broom. Wobbly as gelatin, he climbed back into the sky.

"Potter falls victim to the Wronski Feint!" Jordan exulted. "How's that dirt taste, Potter?"

Before he left Hogwarts, Harry decided, Jordan had to be dealt with.

Harry's prized broom was severely damaged. More than half the tail twigs were broken right off, and the rest were all bent. The broom listed to the left now, and it had suffered in the area of speed. He couldn't accelerate as rapidly, and the top speed was slower than specification.

"You miserable sod!" he shouted angrily at Diggory. "My broom's gone wonky!"

"All's fair, Potter!" Diggory hollered back. "And _that _was for Emily!"

Diggory's accusation struck Harry like a smack across the face. He snarled something unintelligible and flew away.

"All right, Harry?" Bole asked.

"Diggory broke my broom and said disgusting things!" spat Harry.

"I'll get him!"

Bole flew up a few metres and caught the zooming Bludger as it approached. He soared down close to Diggory, tossed the iron ball up, and swung his bat ferociously. Diggory, unaware that a Bludger was in such close proximity, caught the blow in the back of his head and took a tumble.

Harry winced at the sight as Diggory slipped from his broom and landed in a heap on the grass and didn't move.

"And Diggory is down!" Jordan announced. "We need a medic on the field! Penalty shot to Hufflepuff."

"All's fair!" Bole called as he flew over Diggory's crumpled form.

"And Hufflepuff misses the penalty shot. With their Seeker down, is there any way that Hufflepuff can eke out a victory today?"

Not if Harry had anything to say about it. He peered down the pitch, eyes straining. The Snitch had better come out to play soon, or Harry was likely to grow irritated.

"Pucey takes a hit from a Bludger and drops the Quaffle," Jordan prattled on. "Hufflepuff recovers- goal! Hufflepuff scores!"

Harry scowled. He glared at Jordan and - stared. Fluttering along the railing at the top of the stands - was the Snitch!

"Potter is speeding directly towards the announcement booth," Jordan said, a touch of emotion finally entering his voice.

The Snitch, finally aware that it had been sighted, zoomed away with Harry hot on its tail. The rest of the world fell away from him; there was nothing else except the winged, golden ball. Even on a damaged broom, Harry felt almost casual as he reached out to pluck the prize from the air. Then he stopped, hard, whistling in the air as he pulled to a halt inches from Jordan's nose.

"That's the match," Harry said casually into the microphone, dropping the golden ball in the startled announcer's lap.

"Potter catches the Snitch," Jordan said with disgust. "Slytherin wins."

The stands erupted with Slytherin cheers.

"Good show, Harry!" Bletchley congratulated him. "Did you know you're bleeding?"

"What?" Harry touched his face. Sure enough, his fingers came away red.

"Better get yourself up to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey check you out."

"My broom," Harry sighed, able to take note of the damage for the first time.

"I think it might be thrashed," Bole said sympathetically.

"It might be fixable," Derrick argued.

The team fell into a discussion of whether Harry's broom was fixable, and if so, how much it would cost. Harry himself took Bletchley's advice and headed for the hospital wing.

"Madam Pomfrey?" he said as he opened the door.

"She's not here." A girl's voice replied. Ginny Weasley was putting sheets on the beds.

"Where'd she go?"

"To place an order for some tea, I think. She doesn't exactly talk to me other than to give orders."

"That's right, you've still got detention," Harry remembered.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Only until Valentine's Day, thank Merlin."

"Don't expect any sympathy from me," Harry directed her. "After what you lot did, you should have been expelled."

"I told you before, it wasn't _my _idea," she said peevishly. "I just got dragged along."

"I'm just glad there was _one _Weasley who really knew the difference between right and wrong," he needled her.

Ginny sighed. "Now listen…"

At just that moment, Madam Pomfrey returned to the hospital wing. "Ah, Mister Potter. That's a splendid cut on your cheek, and quite a remarkable bruising on your forehead as well. Been playing at Quidditch, have you? Well, from the smile on your face, I'd say you deem the victory worth it, no?"

"Yes, ma'am," he grinned. Was their victory _that _obvious on his face?

"Miss Weasley, why are the beds not all made yet? Well, perhaps when you finally finish with that you can bring up the bucket and scrub the floors again."

Ginny grimaced at Harry, but wordlessly set back to making up the beds.

Sadie came bursting in at that moment, carrying Chip in a baby carrier. Chip was bigger, so the small girl was staggering under the weight.

"That match was awful," said Sadie, her high voice quivering. "When you almost crashed…" She paused, clutching at the stitch in her chest.

"I don't think I like Quidditch either, Mummy," piped Chip. "Why can't wizards play football instead?"

"You'd better not have any horrible bouquets this time," warned Madame Pomfrey.

"No, Madam," said Sadie, shaking her head so that her purple hair rippled and bounced. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"You can help by keeping quiet and leaving me to it," said Madam Pomfrey.

Harry tried not to flinch as Madam Pomfrey efficiently cleaned up his cuts and bruises. When she finally sent him on his way, he was blinking back tears from all the stinging.

Sadie gritted her teeth in sympathy and took him by the hand, leading him by the shortest routes she knew. There was celebrating to be done in the Slytherin common room. At the second floor, they turned down the main corridor. Harry couldn't help but glance down the dark corridor.

"That's where the writing on the wall appeared. The writing which said the Chamber's open. It's still there. Filch and Mum can't move it and I suppose the teachers just can't be bothered."

"Maybe it's left as a warning that there's a villain on the loose?" said Sadie.

"Is the puddle left for that reason?" wondered Harry.

"No, there's more water coming from there," said Sadie, pointing towards a lavatory door.

It was a _girl's _loo. The water could clearly be heard now, flowing from one of the toilets. Piteous wails and cries came from the stall.

Sadie started forward into the loo. "Are you alright?"

Harry followed her in case she was going to do something dumb. He realised that it must be Moaning Myrtle. He'd heard some of the older students mention her once as the punchline of a joke. She haunted a bathroom, he remembered, and never stopped sobbing.

Myrtle was the ghost of a plump girl, probably a year older than Harry and Sadie.

"Of course I'm not alright!" snapped Myrtle. "Someone thought it funny to throw a book at me!"

"Aw." Sadie tutted in sympathy.

"Everyone makes fun of me. Fat Myrtle, ugly Myrtle…"

"I don't think you're ugly," said Sadie.

"Nor do I," said Harry, quickly following her example.

"Then you're the only ones," said Myrtle sulkily.

"Lo, Myrtle!" squeaked Chip, waving at her from his baby carrier.

Harry noticed the book on the floor. He picked it up gingerly. How odd. The book was as dry as a bone. "The diary of T. M. Riddle," he read off the cover. Now why did that name ring a bell?

"A diary?" said Sadie.

"Look where it's turned up. It must be a clue."

Harry felt compelled to take the diary with him. They quickly returned to the Slytherin complex and went down to Harry's dorm, where they sat on his bed, trying to think of ways to make it reveal its secrets, but to no avail.

"Is magic hard, Mummy?" Chip wanted to know.

"Yes, hon," said Sadie. "It certainly can be. But maybe this is just an ordinary diary."

Draco and Theo came in.

"Draco, Theo, good. Come here. I've found a clue."

"A clue, you say? To what?"

"To the Heir of Slytherin." Harry briefly explained how they'd found the diary.

"Very out of place," Draco agreed. "It's telling you nothing?"

"Right. Frankly, it's starting to irritate me."

Draco examined the little book. "Look here," he said.

Harry looked. Stamped on the back was the name of a variety store on Vauxhall Road, London. "Riddle was Muggle-born. He had to have been."

"He couldn't have been," Theo objected. "Riddle was a Slytherin prefect fifty years ago. He won numerous awards, became Head Boy, and was generally a smashing chap."

"So he could have been Muggle Born," argued Sadie.

"Fifty years ago?" Harry echoed. "Draco, didn't your dad say that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened before?"

"Yes, fifty years ago." Draco seemed curious. "You think they're somehow connected?"

"Ohh!" said Sadie. "Maybe. Otherwise it's too coincidental."

"Why else would I have found his diary?" Harry demanded. "Especially right there at the wall with the writing on it. Riddle was a Slytherin prefect, right? Riddle could know everything, and he'll tell us because we're Slytherins."

Theo dug into his trunk and pulled out what appeared to be a big red eraser. "My Revealer should do the trick," he said, rubbing hard on the date of the first page.

But it did not, and neither did any other trick that they tried. Finally they gave it up and went back to the celebration of Slytherin's win over Hufflepuff.


	17. Chapter 17

**Memories and Mischief**

The following Sunday was Valentine's Day. Because of their late celebration of the Quidditch victory, the Slytherins were delayed in their arrival at breakfast. As they walked through the doors, Harry gave a start. Had they gone in the right door?

The walls were covered with large, lurid pink flowers. Worse still, heart-shaped confetti fell from the pale blue ceiling. Lockhart, the great prat, was wearing equally lurid pink robes to match the decorations, standing at the front of the Head Table beaming widely.

At the Slytherin table, the girls were all giggling like mad. Crabbe grimaced and retched. Harry shoved aside a scattering of rose petals and reached for the pancakes. "Even the syrup is pink," he gagged.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Lockhart shouted. "And may I thank the forty-seven people who have already sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise for you all. And it doesn't stop there!"

Lockhart clapped his hands, and through the doors to the entrance hall marched a dozen surly-looking dwarves. Not just any dwarves, though. Lockhart had them all wearing golden wings and carrying harps.

"My friendly, card-carrying cupids!" beamed Lockhart. "They will be roving around the school today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure my colleagues will want to get into the spirit of the holiday! Why not ask Professor Snape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion? And while you're at it, Professor Flitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, the sly old dog!"

Poor Professor Flitwick buried his face in his hands, but Snape glared and bared his teeth.

Sadie shook her head, her purple hair rippling and bouncing.

"Wonder what old McGonagall would help us with," Draco sniggered.

All day long, the dwarves marched through the corridors of Hogwarts, being sent here and there by mischeivous students. A few Knuts was all it cost to send someone a card, and the wealthier Slytherin students wasted a fair chunk of pocket change by sending all kinds of wild messages around the school. Draco sent Weasley an anonymous valentine with a sarcastic message. The N.E.W.T.-level Transfiguration students sent McGonagall one with a hex inside. Late that afternoon in the Great Hall, a particularly grim-looking dwarf came to the Slytherin table.

"'Arry Potter!"

"Oh no," he groaned. "Very well, give me the card."

"No card," the dwarf said as he twanged his harp in a threatening manner. "A song."

"Harry's got a singing valentine!" shrieked Pansy.

"Guys… steady on," said Sadie, holding up her hands placatingly as the other four girls pointed and giggled at Harry.

Harry's cheeks flushed.

"His eyes are as green as a fresh-pickled toad_, _  
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.  
I wish he was mine, he's really divine,  
The hero who conquered the Dark Lord!"

This was probably something Weasley had come up with to make fun of him. Sadie patted his arm, while his other friends shrieked with laughter and pointed at him. He sighed ruefully. Cupid-dwarves had been quite the decent joke, but it had gone a bit far.

"It wasn't all that funny," said Sadie reprovingly to Pansy

Harry and Sadie went to see Cora in her attic room that evening. The green woman had decorated it with the awful pink confetti. Her pregnancy was more obvious now and she put her hands to her belly as she sat on her bed.

"I've collected some beetles," said Sadie politely, holding out a jar. "Here."

"Thank you, dear, you're so thoughtful," said Cora, taking the jar and popping a beetle into her mouth.

Sadie set Chip down on the wooden floor where he stood on stumpy legs. She brushed her long purple hair away from her eyes. "Whew. Haven't you grown? Mummy's all out of breath."

"You have grown," said Cora to Chip. "I remember how tiny you were last Summer."

"You're Harry's Mummy!" squeaked Chip, his smiley paper mask in place. "I'm very happy I can talk to you now. My Mummy says you are a sweet lady."

"Aw. You're both so kind," said Cora. "Listen, if my baby's a boy, I was thinking of naming him Gilderoy. What do you think?"

Harry didn't want to say what he thought. Just seeing Lockhart's decorations made him want to vomit.

* * *

00O00

Thankfully all the confetti, and cards and hearts disappeared by Monday. First class was Potions. Snape set them directly to the work they'd left off on Thursday, which had needed to be chilled over the weekend. Harry was just finishing adding his final ingredient when the professor called upon his gopher.

"Weasley, fetch some rose stem from the stores."

"Fetch it yourself," the boy muttered.

"What was that?" Snape demanded.

Sadie looked up, staring at Weasley with horrified blue eyes through the eyeholes in her mask.

"I said fetch it yourself." Weasley was showing no fear. "I've been counting down the days, and my detention is _over_."

Snape stood silent a moment, his eyes unreadable. He seemed stunned that Weasley was daring to speak in that tone of voice (Harry certainly was!) Then slowly, his yellowed teeth bared in a wicked smile.

"Over? Wrong, Weasley. Your detention is _not _over. You'll report here, as usual, at the end of classes today, and every day until I say otherwise. That will be five points from Gryffindor for your cheek, now fetch the rose stem."

Weasley's defiant stare slowly crumbled in the face of Snape's awful glare. He lowered his head, but Snape kept on staring. He looked back up, flinched away from that implacable face, and hurried out of the room.

"Wow," Harry breathed.

"Weasley's bold." Tracy whispered.

"Too bold," murmured Sadie.

* * *

00O00

The snow was finally starting to melt, and Harry only had to wear two sweaters for Quidditch practice that afternoon instead of three.

In the common room, Sadie was trying to help Lucas with his homework.

"Yes, dear, dragon blood split into all these elements," she tapped the parchment. "Dragon poop has magical properties too, but that's not on the syllabus."

"Dragon poop is a poison, isn't it Mummy?" squeaked Chip.

Harry decided not to disturb them and went to his dorm and tried to get the diary to reveal its secrets again, but failed. Frustrated enough for one night, Harry shoved it to the side and dipped his quill to write his Charms assignment.

He'd been at it nearly forty-five minutes when he heard Millie shouting out in the stairwell. "Crabbe, get back here!" The door crashed open and Crabbe lumbered in with Millie hot on his tail. Crabbe was holding something, Harry couldn't see what, and Millie was lunging for it. She managed to get a hold on Crabbe's wrist, and a wrestling match ensued.

Crabbe was one the biggest boy in the second, but Millie was no fairy. She was a lot bigger than Harry. The two rolled around, struggling for possession. It was amusing, but Harry really did have to work.

"Take it somewhere else, would you please? Hey!" he shouted in surprise as the pair rolled towards him. He jumped out of the way just in time; with a loud crash, they knocked over his writing desk, sending parchment, ink, and quills flying.

"Hey!" Harry exclaimed. "That's my Charms essay you've just ruined!"

Millie stood up, whatever she'd been after was firmly in her grasp. "I'm so sorry, Harry," she apologized. Then she turned to glare at Crabbe. "See what you did?"

Crabbe smirked. "You did it, hag!"

"Enough!" Harry shouted, stung at the reference to the word hag used as an insult. "Out! Both of you!"

His parchment was soaked with black ink. It was also on his books, his desk, the floor, and him. Harry started picking things up with a sigh of resignation. Everything was covered except for Riddle's diary. _Hang about. _The diary was sitting in the middle of an ink spatter. Harry gingerly opened the cover: not a drop of ink to be found; the pages were bone dry. What was going on?

"I heard there was a slight accident." Percy Weasley knocked on his door. "Wow, it seems that I heard right."

"Can you help?" Harry asked, putting the diary to the side for now.

"Absolutely." Percy stepped closer and examined the mess. "This is basic. There's a difference between spilled ink and written ink. You have to apply a bit of maths and tweak the spell a bit, but you can remove ink spilled by accident from a parchment you've been working on. It's just a matter of differentiating by intent."

Percy waved his wand, and ink floated into the air, coming off the floor, the desk, and everywhere else it had spilled. The drops lifted from the parchment, leaving Harry's Charms essay unmarked! The ink collected into a levitating sphere, and Percy directed it back into the inkwell.

"Simple as that," he said modestly.

"Wow!" Harry was very impressed.

"Just sixth year Arithmancy," Percy demurred.

"It was brilliant, Percy. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pair of second years to yell at for a bit."

Percy had definitely loosened up since he'd become a Slytherin.

Harry flipped through the pages of Riddle's diary again. Every page was spotless. Harry dipped his quill anew and dropped a large blot onto the first page of the diary.

The ink shone brightly on the paper for a moment, and then, as though it was being sucked into the page, it vanished. Harry drew in his breath; what strange magic this was. He dipped the quill again and wrote, "My name is Harry Potter."

The words shone momentarily on the page, and they also sank without a trace. Then, after all his days of experimenting, something finally happened. Oozing back out of the page, in the very black ink he'd been using, came words Harry had never written, in a handwriting not Harry's own.

_"Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle. How did you come by my diary?" _

"I found it," wrote Harry. "Someone dropped it down a toilet."

_Lucky that I recorded my memories in a more lasting way than ink. I always knew that there would be those who would not want this diary read." _

"What do you mean?" Harry scrawled.

_"I mean that this diary holds memories of terrible things. Things that were covered up. Things that happened at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." _

"I'm at Hogwarts now," Harry wrote. "Terrible things are happening now, too. Do you know anything about the Chamber of Secrets?"

_"Yes." _

Harry's heart leapt. Finally! He steadied his shaking quill. "Tell me."

Riddle's reply came quickly, the handwriting becoming sloppier, as though he was hurrying to tell all he knew. _"In my day, they told us it was a legend, that it did not exist. This was a lie. In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened, and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one. I caught the person who had opened the Chamber, and he was expelled. They gave me a shiny trophy for my trouble and warned me to keep my mouth shut. The Headmaster, Professor Dippet, was shamed by what had taken place, and put about the story that the girl had died in a freak accident. But I knew the truth. The monster lived on, and the one who had the power to release it was not imprisoned." _

Harry's glee was near-tangible. He was moments away from knowing all the answers. "The Chamber is open once more. Who did you catch? Please tell me!"

_"I can do more than tell you," _came Riddle's reply. _"You don't have to take my word. I can _show _you." _

Harry hesitated only a moment. "How?"

_"I can take you inside my memory of the night when I caught him." _

How he could be taken inside someone else's memory was something Harry didn't understand at all. Then again, he didn't understand how this diary was talking back to him either. He glanced at the door, which was shut.

"Yes," he wrote.

The pages of the diary began to blow as though caught in a high wind, stopping halfway on June thirteenth. Bright golden light began to shine from the pages, and Harry felt himself slipping away from the dorm and into the pages of the book in a whirlwind of colour and shadow.

00O00

The scene Harry saw in the dungeon was staggering. Riddle hadn't been quick enough to kill the big spider monster and was casting more magic as the spell light whirled in front of Harry's eyes. The blackness darkened and became complete. Harry felt himself falling, and he landed with a crash spread-eagled on his four-poster bed in the Slytherin dormitory. Riddle's diary lay open on his stomach.

Harry was bewildered. Hagrid? Rubeus Hagrid, the Heir of Slytherin?

He was not the only one of that mind either. When Harry related what he'd seen and heard in the diary to his friends, more than one was moved to gag.

"Impossible!" said Sadie, shaking her head.

"That great chump is no descendant of the great Salazar Slytherin," Theo said flatly. "I don't care _what _some mouldy old prefect's diary says."

Pansy nodded her head. "For once I agree with Theo."

"It is impossible," Daphne agreed. "Harry's not tall enough to be Hagrid's grandson."

"Stop that!" said Sadie, glaring at her.

"Hagrid does have a fondness for terrifying beasts," Millie mused. "That part of the memory could be right."

"Hagrid _would _raise some giant spider in a box under his bed," Daphne concluded.

"He was planning on raising a dragon in a wooden hut," Harry reminded them.

"Don't forget that three-headed dog guarding the Philosopher's Stone last year," Tracy contributed.

"As if I could," Draco scoffed.

"They must have been so desperate to find a scapegoat that nobody ever considered that Riddle hadn't actually caught the Heir," reasoned Theo.

"Ahh! You make a good point," said Sadie. "He must have been a scapegoat."

"Like any Slytherin, the Heir used the distraction to cover his tracks. When the attacks stopped, nobody asked any more questions." Draco was nodding as it all made sense for him.

"Then the Heir just finished school, married into the Potter family, and lived a good life," Daphne giggled.

"That wasn't even funny the first time," said Sadie.

"If you're so convinced that I'm the Heir, then take an order and shut it," said Harry.

"Well then, any student whose father was at Hogwarts fifty years ago is suspect," Draco figured.

"Why would it have to be a man?" Pansy demanded.

"Because men are methodical and girls are scatterbrained," Theo answered. "Especially you."

"I'm methodical about hating you," she snarled.

"Bite me, vampire."

"I'll tear your throat out."

"Why don't you change into a bat and fly away?" he suggested.

"Why don't you start running before I start chasing you with a knife?"

Sadie stared at them in consternation.

"Aren't they cute?" Daphne said wryly. Harry noted her copying Sadie's use of the phrase.

* * *

00O00

The last weekend in February saw Ravenclaw demolish Gryffindor on the Quidditch pitch. Without first class Beaters, the Chasers were completely vulnerable and could only manage a few ten-point goals. Oliver Wood was a keen captain and a talented Keeper - even the Slytherins were prepared to admit it - but finding replacements for the Weasley twins seemed to daunt even his skills, and the Keeper is a very minor role and cannot affect the outcome the way the Beaters can. Straw, Gryffindor's Seeker, was, of course, absolutely awful.

"When is Wood going to realize that she's hopeless?" Harry questioned on the way to Transfiguration the following Monday. "She's can't play Quidditch to save her life."

"Poor girl," said Sadie.

"Gryffindor just doesn't have a pool of talent to draw from," said Millie. "Gryffindor hasn't had a first class Seeker in eight years now."

"That was Charlie Weasley," Theo informed them.

Harry opened his mouth to make a snappy comment, but a loud tearing sound interrupted him. His books, quills, parchment and ink all went flying as his bag mysteriously burst open. Harry stood and stared at the mess for a moment. Wonderful.

"Oh no!" Sadie ran after his escaping ink bottle.

"I can catch it!" squeaked Chip, tottering after the bottle.

"Oh dear. What a nuisance," said Tracy.

Harry sighed. "I'll get it. No sense in all of us being late."

"Are you sure?" Millie asked. "Old McGonagall will be right put out with you."

"She's _always _put out with me for one thing or another," Harry rued.

"I'll be late with you," said Sadie. "She can be put out with both of us."

Sadie, Harry and Chip remained behind while the other Slytherins went to Transfiguration.

Harry watched with resignation as his blank parchment swirled up the draughty corridor. Despite Chip chasing after it, waving his little purple arms.

"Oh no, it got away," said Chip.

"Need some help?"

They turned to see Ginny Weasley there, staring at them with bright brown eyes.

She gathered up parchment, not waiting for a reply and thrust the armload of it into Sadie's arms. "Anything break?"

"Thankfully no," Harry wasn't sure why she was being nice to him, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Don't know what happened to the bag. It just burst open."

"My mum would stitch it right up," Ginny told him.

"I'll just buy another one," Harry shrugged, "and maybe one for you by way of thanks."

The girl went red as could be. "T-that won't be necessary," she stammered.

"It's kind of you to help," said Sadie.

Ginny looked at her coldly. "Is it such a surprise?"

"Um…" said Sadie uncomfortably.

"Mummy has said that Percy proved he was the only Weasley with real courage," piped Chip.

"Thank you, Chip," muttered Sadie.

"Well what if I said that Percy was my only brother who noticed when I had a cold and the only one who stopped the twins pranking me by covering themselves in fur and boils and leaping out at me?" Said Ginny. "I daresay the Head Girl never thought of that before taking him away."

"She didn't take him away," said Sadie uncertainly.

Ginny scoffed and turned away from her and then gripped Harry by the shoulders. She was as tall as him. Her freckled face was set in lines of determination and her brown eyes were wide. "Don't skulk around the corridors… it could be dangerous."

"Thanks," said Harry puzzled.

* * *

00O00

By some amazing stroke of luck, old McGonagall's back was turned as they got there. Moving as quickly and as quietly as he could, Harry slid into his seat and breathed a sigh of relief. He sat towards the back anyway, so hopefully the professor wouldn't have missed him. Fortune, however, was truly not with him this day.

"You are late, Mister Potter." Old McGonagall's steely gaze was upon him, and now he had a taste of what Weasley felt from Snape. "Explain yourself."

"I was late too," said Sadie.

"Silence!" said McGonagall. She pointed at Potter. "Explain."

"My bag tore," he dutifully explained, holding up the bag as evidence. "All my stuff scattered everywhere."

McGonagall crossed the distance to inspect the bag up close. Harry flinched reflexively as she drew her wand, but she uttered only a simple, "_ Reparo! _," and the tear knit itself seamlessly.

"Now then, today we shall be changing flowers into goblets. Turn to page three hundred."

The lesson that day wasn't bad, but two weeks later, Harry and his friends were stumbling from Transfiguration in a daze. Whatever Professor McGonagall had been talking about today, it had been really hard. Even Theo, who normally was very ace at the subject, was shaking his head as they left the classroom.

"God, I've never felt so stupid!" Pansy complained.

"Really? Never?" jibed Theo.

"Me neither," Daphne agreed.

"I think I hurt something." Millie was holding a hand to her head.

"Transfiguration has a steep learning curve," said Sadie.

"Why do we always have to pass this hallway?" Harry asked, suddenly feeling irritated. They were walking by the corridor with the writing on the wall.

"Because it's the quickest route down to the dungeons," Draco answered him.

"We need to find a better way."

"You boys go ahead," Pansy said then. "We'll meet you in the common room." The gang had decided to take a break after the ordeal of Transfiguration.

"Afraid to face me at chess?" Theo needled her.

"I fear nothing," she declared.

"I want to wash my face," said Tracy.

"Why, did old McGonagall make you cry?"

"Very nearly," she admitted. "I'm pretty horrible at Transfiguration, you know."

"Not completely horrible," Draco encouraged her. "Goyle's even worse."

"We won't be long," Pansy promised.

"You can go drown yourself in the sink for all I care," Theo retorted.

"So you say," she said as she stuck out her tongue.

"What's that smell?" Crabbe asked suddenly.

"It's not time for dinner yet, fathead," Draco pointed out.

Sadie sniffed the air. "A potion burning. Smells kind of good."

"Good?" said Goyle, scrunching his face in revulsion.

"Mummy likes weird smells," said Chip with a giggle.

"I sure do," said Sadie with a smile.

"It's coming from the loo," said Tracy.

"Let's check it out," said Theo.

The two big boys drew wands and peered through the crack of the door. "Clear."

The door creaked open to reveal a bathroom filled with grey smoke that curled slowly from one of the stalls. Theo slowly eased the swinging door open. "Look here," he said. "Someone's been breaking a few rules. There's a fire in the toilet, and a cauldron bubbling away."

"Smells overdone to me," Daphne quipped.

"Any idea what potion it is?" Millie asked.

"What's this then? _Moste Potente Potions_?"

"That's a restricted book!" Draco exclaimed.

"Yeah!" said Sadie. "I read it cover to cover, but they all look too hard."

"The nasty little secrets some people keep," Crabbe observed with a grunt.

"The potion is pretty much crisped," Theo noted as he took an experimental stir. "I think the flames are too high."

"Oi Harry, come back here," Draco called out.

Harry left Theo poking at the cauldron and moved towards the rear of the loo. There was something on the floor, Harry saw. He peered closer and received a shock as he realized it was a person! It was that insufferable Granger girl. Why was she on the floor? She had her hands over her head.

"What're you doing here?" demanded Harry.

"Nothing!" squeaked Hermione.

"Doesn't look like nothing," said Tracy, folding her arms and glaring down at her.

"Ooh! Up to no good at all!" said Pansy, and she and Daphne giggled.

"A Gryffindor skulking around up to no good?" Said Crabbe. "Get her!"

"Stoppit!" Sadie snapped at him.

"Yeah, Crabbe, you don't get to give orders. Need I remind you?" said Draco.

"What were you thinking?" Sadie demanded of Hermione. The small girl was breathing through her nose. "I'm sure you have a good explanation. Why are you lurking in a toilet trying to brew Polyjuice Potion? When there's a monster targeting Muggleborns on the loose?"

"Yeah, Granger, anyone would think you wanted to be petrified," sniggered Theo.

Hermione looked up and gulped. "Weasley was saying I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor. He dared me to catch the Heir. I was going to brew the potion to secretly find the Heir and prove him wrong."

Sadie glared. "No one who cares about you would dare you to do anything so stupid."

"Mummy's angry with you!" trilled Chip.

Hermione stood up and kissed Sadie on the cheek. "I know. Sorry."

"You were going to disguise yourself to find the Heir?" said Theo. "Who is it then?"

Hermione looked furtive. "Crabbe." She said flatly. "He's mean. He must be the mastermind who's fooled everyone."

Tracy, Daphne and Pansy burst into fits of giggles at that.

"What!" Draco looked insulted. "Crabbe doesn't have the brains. He couldn't keep it a secret."

"Hey!" said Crabbe.

"For the cleverest witch in the year, you really are dumb," said Theo sniggering.

"I can't believe you beat me in every exam," said Millie.

Harry thought Hermione hadn't been entirely truthful. Sadie must have realised that too. Sadie had folded her arms and turned away from Hermione. Hermione kissed the top of her purple head. "I'll be good," she whispered.


	18. Chapter 18

**The End of Hogwarts**

The next day there was an announcement to dampen everyone's mood. Kristen Pimento of Gryffindor House had been found petrified in a corridor.

"It's awful!" said Pansy, with relish. "It looks like she had just got out her compact and mirror to powder her face and she was frozen in position."

"Vain and snooty to the end," grunted Crabbe.

Sadie glared at him through the eyeholes in her mask. "I can't believe you'd say that at a time like this."

"You're so crass, Crabbe," said Tracy sniffing.

Harry numbly spooned cereal into his mouth. This had all gone too far. Where would it end?

"Could Hagrid know anything about it?" he muttered to Sadie as they filed out of the Great Hall. "If he was a scapegoat. He may know something of some use."

"Maybe. Maybe," said Sadie. "Ohh, it's gonna be awkward asking him about it. But we gotta." She put her little hand to her green forehead for a moment and closed her eyes. Then she turned to look at Harry. "Let's sneak out tonight when the others are asleep."

* * *

00O00

Harry and Sadie snuck out of the Slytherin Common Room after sunset, draped in the Invisibility Cloak. Chip was in a bag tied around Sadie's waist. The corridors were crowded with teachers, prefects and ghosts on patrol. They had to tiptoe pass Morgana on the way to the oak front doors. Her hooded eyes seemed to linger on them, but she couldn't possibly see through the Cloak. It was with relief that they emerged into the clear, starry night.

"Are you awake, hon?" Sadie asked Chip.

"Yes!" squeaked Chip loudly.

"Hush! Not so loud," said Harry. "Wait 'til we get away from the castle…"

They hurried towards Hagrid's cabin, flung the cloak off and knocked on the door. Hagrid flung it open, aiming a crossbow at them! Fang the boarhound was barking loudly behind him.

Hagrid lowered the crossbow. "Oh! What're you two doin' here?"

"What's that for?" asked Harry, pointing at the crossbow as they stepped inside.

"I've bin expectin'… doesn't matter… sit down."

Hagrid poured them large mugs of boiling water (he'd forgotten to add tea). He hardly seemed to know what he was doing.

"Are you OK, Hagrid?" squeaked Chip. "Don't worry, we're your friends."

"I – I'm sorry to have to bring this up, Hagrid…" said Sadie, her voice quivering. "We know what happened fifty years ago…"

But then there was a loud knock at the door. Sadie grabbed Chip and she and Harry dived under the cloak and sat in the corner.

Dumbledore entered the cabin, accompanied by a small, portly man in a pinstriped suit and lime green bowler hat.

"Bad business, Hagrid," said Fudge. "Four attacks on Muggle Borns. The Ministry must act. For a short stretch only… I have to take you to Azkaban, Hagrid."

Beside Harry, Sadie stiffened.

"I never…" said Hagrid, looking imploringly at Dumbledore.

"Let it be understood that Hagrid has my full confidence," said Dumbledore.

"I've got to be seen doing something," said Fudge uncomfortably.

"A true leader concerns himself with what is right, not how he is seen," said Dumbledore coolly.

There was a knock at the door and Lucius Malfoy entered the cabin.

"Get outta my house!" demanded Hagrid.

"My dear man, I've no pleasure at all being in your… ah… do you call this a house?" said Lucius. "I merely called at the school and was told the headmaster would be here." He took out a long roll of parchment. "Dreadful thing, Dumbledore, but the governors feel you're losing our touch. This is an Order of Suspension. All twelve of us have voted. You must step aside."

"Oh now, see here Lucius. Dumbledore suspended? Last thing we want right now," said Fudge.

"The appointment – or suspension - of the Headmaster is a matter for the governors, Fudge," said Lucius. "Dumbledore has done nothing to stop the attacks, and all twelve of us have voted."

"An' how many did yer have to threaten and blackmail before they agreed, Malfoy, eh?" Demanded Hagrid.

"Temper temper," said Lucius. "You mustn't shout that the Dementors like that."

"Yeh can' take Dumbledore!" yelled Hagrid, causing Fang to cower and whimper.

"Calm yourself, Hagrid," said Dumbledore. "If the governors want my suspension, I shall of course step aside. But I am sure I can rely on good hearts – shining lights in the Darkness – to succeed where I could not."

Dumbledore's penetrating gaze was fixed on Sadie and Harry. Could he see them?

"A cryptically strange sentiment," said Lucius.

Hagrid was about to speak, but Dumbledore silenced him and the three men left the cabin.

"I'll need someone ter feed Fang while I'm away!" said Hagrid, and slammed the cabin door.

Sadie pulled the cloak off. "I can't blame the governors for suspending Dumbledore. Evidence is he's done absolutely nothing to stop the attacks. But poor Hagrid! Azkaban is terrible! So appalling and inhumane…" she shuddered. "Dumbledore was right about the Minister at least."

"That was Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic?" said Harry. Sadie nodded.

Fang was howling and scratching at the door. "I can only hope he will be out soon, Fang," said Sadie glumly.

* * *

00O00

Deputy Headmistress McGonagall had assumed the reins of power at the school, a move which Lucius informed Draco via owl post was only temporary. It was not known what, if any, new ideas the old witch had for catching the Heir. She ran her Transfiguration class just the same as always, which meant that Harry and his friends struggled mightily and mostly failed to understand. Potions class afterwards was always a mood booster after such torment, and Harry was glad to descend into the dungeons for Professor Snape's lecture.

"You'd think now that she's Acting Headmistress that she'd have better things to do than read two feet from each of us," Tracy complained as they walked. "Like catching the Heir of Slytherin, perhaps."

"A task far beyond her miniscule abilities," said Pansy, smirking.

Tracy sighed. "You're right, Pansy. None of her ideas worked before, and they won't work now either."

"She won't last," Theo predicted. "I don't think she has the right temperament for the job."

"Who does?" Daphne asked as she pushed open the door to the Potions classroom.

"Professor Snape," Draco answered her. "I say, that's a brilliant idea." As the Slytherins entered the empty laboratory and took their seats, he posed the question. "Professor? Why don't you apply for the Headmaster's job, sir? McGonagall's only filling in; we all know it. I know you'd have Father's vote. I'll tell him what a good teacher you are."

Snape couldn't suppress a thin-lipped smile. "Now, now, Malfoy. Professor Dumbledore has only been suspended. I daresay he'll be back with us soon enough."

"Ha ha. I doubt!" said Draco.

Further discussion was interrupted by the belated arrival of the Gryffindors.

* * *

00O00

New security measures were announced that night, so Harry and Sadie could only conveniently feed Fang in the afternoons. All students were to be escorted from lesson to lesson by a teacher. When not in class, students were required to remain in their Houses. Curfew now started after dinner, and violations would be severely punished.

Worst of all, Quidditch practices had been suspended. For once Slytherin House and Gryffindor House were in complete agreement - this was going too far. Slytherin's Captain, Bletchley, and Gryffindor's Captain, Wood, even went to McGonagall together to plead for mercy to no avail.

Harry chafed at the new restrictions, as did his friends. The Slytherins had to endure glares and mutterings from the other Houses for the stigma of the Heir having been a Slytherin.

"The Heir wouldn't dare attack them," muttered Lavender Brown as McGonagall escorted them all to Potions one Friday. "I bet they're just loving this."

Sadie glared at Lavender, her blue eyes bright with anger. Hermione grimaced and gave Sadie an apologetic smile. But an incident that really annoyed Harry occurred in Defence Against the Dark Arts, when Lockhart bounded into the classroom looking downright buoyant, but he stopped in his tracks and stared at them. "What a bunch of glum faces!" The class stared back at him. "Come now, I know that none of you were in danger from the beast, but surely you have friends in other Houses who were? There should be a bit more cheer in this room, even if you are all Slytherins."

Pansy raised her hand. "Why should there be more cheer, Sir?"

"The danger has passed now, Miss Parkinson," said Lockhart, in a tone suggesting that Pansy was being a bit slow. "The culprit has been taken away!"

"Says who?" said Harry.

"My dear boy," said Lockhart, "The Minister for Magic would not have taken Hagrid away if he had not been one hundred percent sure he was guilty."

"Oh yes he would," said Sadie bitterly.

"I flatter myself that I know a _touch _more about events that night than you do, McIntyre."

Harry stood up. "You don't know anything," he said, amazed at his own nerve, "and I've got better things to do than listen to you tell stories about how great you are."

Harry shouldered his bag and walked defiantly past the sputtering idiot and out the door. Every one of his friends stood up and followed him. Nobody said anything until they were back in the stone safety of the dungeons, and then Theo doubled over with laughter. The rest of the gang degenerated into hysterics.

"That was perfect," Theo wheezed. "Harry, bloody brilliant."

"Should have done it months ago," Millie said from the floor.

* * *

00O00

Cora's pregnancy was in its final phase now. It was a comical sight to see her waddling around her room. Her green face glowed when Harry and Sadie came to visit her. She hadn't been able to do all her cleaning duties lately, but she had carved different baby toys out of wood.

"These are so cute!" said Sadie.

"Yes! I know I'd love them," said Chip.

Harry still wasn't sure how to feel about this. His mother had made toys for him once. Did this mean that he was being replaced? Would Cora like her new baby better than him because it was her biological child?

"Gilderoy will marry me this Summer," said Cora smiling. "We've worked it out."

Harry cringed at the sound of her calling Lockhart "Gilderoy." Lockhart made Harry feel very uncomfortable. Nothing good would come of him being in their lives.

* * *

00O00

In Herbology class on Friday morning, Professor Sprout had some news.

"The Mandrakes are coming along quite splendidly," she had told them. "Their acne is just clearing up, and soon they'll be trying to move into each others pots. That's when they're fully mature. Then Professor Snape can stew them and make a potion to cure those poor children in the Hospital Wing."

"Oh good!" said Sadie. "I just hope one of them can identify the culprit."

"We must have faith, McIntyre," said Professor Sprout, nodding at her.

"It's kind of frustrating that there wasn't a quicker cure," said Sadie, shifting uncomfortably on her seat. "Is a cure that involved waiting around for months really the best that conventional Healing could come up with?"

Lisa Turpin of Ravenclaw rolled her eyes. "Don't start rambling about Dark Magic again, please."

"Now, now…" said Professor Sprout. "McIntyre's heart is in the right place. I really wish I could have whipped up a cure immediately, but the best things never come easily."

* * *

00O00

Harry was trying to eat something for lunch when Professor McGonagall strode into the Great Hall. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her eyes. Her jaw was square as she stopped in front of the High Table and faced the students.

"Attention, everyone," the old witch said. "I have an announcement to make." A hush fell instantly. A sea of wide eyes looked expectantly toward the Deputy Headmistress. "All students will return to their common rooms immediately. Curfew is now in effect, and any student who breaks it does so at risk of his own life."

"Oh no, on no…" moaned Sadie covering her eyes with her hands.

"Take a deep breath, Mummy," urged Chip. "You'll know what to do. You always do. Remember your adventure last year."

"But I don't know what to do," said Sadie. "You heard what McGonagall said. The monster must have killed someone."

Harry took the inconsolable Sadie to the boy's dorm and sat on his fourposter where she pressed her masked face against his chest.

There was a knock at the door and Percy Weasley entered. He looked a frightful mess, which was very unusual for the neat and tidy prefect. Harry could see traces of tears on his cheeks, and his lips were pale and bloodless.

Sadie looked up. "What's wrong?" she asked, wide eyed.

"Brave Percy is upset? It must be terrible if he cannot handle it," said Chip.

"This only concerns Potter," Percy whispered. "I'm sorry she hurt your friend, but please don't kill her."

"Kill who?" said Harry.

"What are you driveling about?" Demanded Sadie. "Explain!"

"I'm talking about Ginny. I know she was taken into the Chamber, and it's obvious you're the Heir, Potter. You speak Parseltongue, you defeated a Dark Lord as an infant, and the only reason to take Ginny, a pure-blood, would have to be a personal vendetta. She helped attack Malfoy, but I'm asking you to give her back. I have something more valuable."

"Oh no!" said Sadie, letting out a long breath. "The Heir took Ginny? Percy, I'm so, so sorry!"

"What?" Harry was not pleased to discover that he could still be shocked today. Ginny was a Weasley. A pure-blood. What was going on?

Percy misinterpreted Harry's terse 'what' as meaning 'what can you give me?'

"It's a map," he said. "It show you all the passages of the school and where everyone is. The possibilities of this are limitless for you. It's much better than some revenge on a first year."

"Get it through your head – Harry is not the Heir!" snapped Sadie.

"Mummy is right. You are silly," squeaked Chip.

Harry didn't bother to try and correct Percy's assumption that he was the Heir. He was intrigued. He knew where some of the secret passages were, but a map that showed them all? That _was _quite a treasure.

"What do you mean it shows where everyone is?"

"I took this from my brothers on Halloween. It was this that led them to Malfoy. Allow me to demonstrate." Percy pulled out a folded over bit of parchment. He smoothed the thing out on Harry's desk. "Tap it with your wand and say, 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.'"

"Where's your wand?"

"Snape took it. He doesn't want me to go off half-cocked looking for the Heir. Fortunately, I knew where to find you."

Sadie rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

Harry obligingly drew his wand and said the requisite words. At once, thin ink lines began to spread like a spider's web from the point that his wand had touched. They joined each other, criss-crossed, and fanned into every corner of the parchment; then words began to blossom across the top, great, curly green words that proclaimed:

Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers

are proud to present

The Marauders Map

Percy opened the folds of the parchment and revealed a wondrous map showing every detail of the Hogwarts castle and grounds. What made it truly remarkable, though, were the tiny ink dots moving around on it, each labelled with a name in minuscule writing. Astounded, Harry bent over it. A bunch of labeled dots in the center of the parchment showed that the teachers were having a meeting.

"Percy, this is incredible."

"What an invention. Surely the Darkness blessed the creator," breathed Sadie.

"It shows everything: people, pets, ghosts, secret passages, everything," said Percy. "I've been searching, and I can't find Ginny anywhere on it. The Chamber of Secrets isn't on there either. Anybody can read it, but you can wipe it clean by tapping it with your wand and saying, 'Mischief managed!'"

"You worked out the secrets?" He knew Percy was smart, but deciphering this artefact must have taken ages.

"Let's just say that Fred and George were _persuaded _to tell me its secrets."

Which meant they probably hadn't enjoyed it. "Percy, you're wonderful," said Harry grinning.

"Thank you. I knew that part would please you. So can I have Ginny now?" Percy pleaded. "I won't tell the teachers it was you. I'll keep it secret. You can do with me what you wish. Blindfold me, leave me here to wait, whatever."

"Percy, this map is fantastic, but I'm afraid it doesn't help," Harry had to say.

"It's like you said, it doesn't show the Chamber," said Sadie, grimacing and wringing her hands together.

Percy fell to his knees with a choked sob. "It's not enough to tempt you, Potter? Then take _my _life. I'll give you anything you want! Just please don't take Ginny! She's only eleven. My family can't lose her!"

"Percy, please, we'll get Ginny back!" said Sadie, her voice quivering like she was close to tears at the sight of Percy losing it. "Just go… calm down. Take a drink of water."

"Will we get her back?" asked Harry.

"Yes, yes, there might be a way," said Sadie.

"Alright, Percy, I accept your offer of your life," said Harry irritably. "Now get out and leave us alone."

Percy bowed. "My life for my sister."

"Done," said Harry.

When Percy left, Harry rounded on Sadie. "So, what's your idea?"

"Necromancy!" she said. "A Muggleborn died last time the Chamber was opened. There's an outside change we might be able to conjure her ghost. There's a spell for summoning a ghost who has information you need…"

Sadie brought the Codex Mortis from out of her purple satchel and picked up Chip. Harry followed her into the secret room she had found near his dorm. She had drawn a circle in purple chalk in the middle of the floor. She waved her dragon heart string wand, and drew a circle in the air with a stream of blue fire. She murmured a string of weird sounding word and mists swirled around them.

"I summon forth the shade of one who can help us in our hour of need," murmured Sadie. "Will the departed spirit come?"

A pale, silver shadow slid into the room. It was the Bloody Baron, Slytherin's House ghost.

"No, no, that wasn't supposed to happen," said Sadie. "What went wrong. Sorry Baron…"

Harry ignored her and concentrated on the Baron.

"Baron? I can't open the Chamber; I don't know where it is." Had anyone questioned the ghosts? "Can you tell me?"

The Baron hissed sibilantly. "One who can help you is on the second floor. The one who died in that _bathroom_."

Harry started. "You can't mean - you don't - Moaning Myrtle?"

"You are a Parselmouth, Potter," said the Baron. "And I believe you have a secret. A voice that only you can hear."

"Wait!" said Sadie. "You're saying that Harry heard the monster of Slytherin? That must mean it's a great snake or toad. Like a basilisk or a cockatrice?"

"Is that not obvious?" said the Baron. The silver blood down his front shimmered. "Your Necromancy may not have worked as you intended. It distorted the effects of time around us. Hours have already passed." The Baron faded from sight.

Sadie gathered her Dark items in her satchel and Harry and Sadie emerged from the dorm stairwell to find the Common Room deserted. Where was everyone?

"The Baron said hours had passed, didn't he?" said Sadie anxiously.

"What does that mean, Mummy?" asked Chip.

"It means that we got caught in a time distortion bubble," said Sadie. "I really, really hope we're not too late. We desperately need the teachers' help if we're going into the Chamber of Secrets. One of them will have to look after Chip too."

"You're coming back from the Chamber, though, Mummy?" asked Chip.

"Oh, Chip. I don't know what to tell you," said Sadie. "But if we have the teachers to help, we will turn the tables on the Heir."

She put Chip in her bag and they left the Common Room.

The castle felt downright abandoned. No teachers patrolled the corridors. No prefects asked their business.

"Where is everyone?" asked Harry. "Have they all left?"

"It's starting to look that way," said Sadie. "They must have evacuated and left us behind. If so, then the place is locked down and taken off the Floo network as well."

It looked like she was right. Every teacher's office was empty. Darkness had fallen when they reached Lockhart's.

"Ah! Someone's in there," said Sadie.

They could hear scraping thumps and hurried footsteps. Sadie knocked and there was sudden silence. Then the door opened a crack and they saw Lockhart peering out.

"Professor, we know how to bring down the Heir of Slytherin!" said Sadie. "Has everyone evacuated? We know where the Chamber is and we know about the monster."

"Well… alright." Lockhart opened the door and they entered.

Lockhart had stripped the office and packed everything into two large trunks.

"I've got to go," said Lockhart. "Everyone else has evacuated, but Professor McGonagall thought it amusing to leave me behind to take care of the monster. But I've just had an urgent call. I have to leave now."

"You're running away? After all the stuff in your books?" said Harry, curling his lip.

"Books can be misleading," said Lockhart delicately.

"You wrote them!" said Sadie, breathing through her nose.

"My dear girl, do be sensible," said Lockhart. "My books wouldn't have sold half as well if people didn't think I'd done those things. Who wants to read about some ugly old Armenian warlock, even if he did save a village from werewolves? And the witch who banished the Bandon Banshee had a hare lip. I mean, come on…"

Sadie stared at him, her blue eyes wide and horrified.

"So basically you just stole the credit for what other people have done," said Harry. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Harry, Harry, it wasn't that simple," said Lockhart. "I had to track these people down, ask them exactly how they did it and then put a Memory Charm on them. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's my Memory Charms. They're Ministry gold standard. If you want fame, be prepared for a long hard slog. Not you though, Harry. You got it handed to you. I'm afraid I won't be marrying your mother. She's been evacuated now, but you'll never hear from me again. Now I've got to put a Memory Charm on you and Miss McIntyre, so you can't blab my secrets everywhere…"

He raised his wand and Harry raised his, but at that moment, Sadie threw something at Lockhart. It looked like a little black bug. It bit Lockhart on the neck and he seized up, his body going rigid, and he collapsed to the floor.

Sadie pointed her wand at him. "No. You won't be obliviating anyone, ever again. Everyone must know you're a fraud."

"I'm bitten! I'm poisoned!" wailed Lockhart.

"No, you're just paralysed for a day and a night," said Sadie. "It wears off after that."

"Let's force him to go into the Chamber ahead of us," said Harry, feeling a surge of vindictive pleasure at the thought. He hated Lockhart for walking out on his mother. But he wasn't surprised. Actually, he was glad that Lockhart would never be his Dad!

"Lockhart should be a meat shield," said Harry. "In case there's anything deadly dangerous waiting for us he can go ahead without a wand and get the brunt of it."

"No! Please, have mercy…" began Lockhart.

"You'll get no mercy," said Harry, but Sadie shook her head, her purple hair rippling and bouncing.

"No," said Sadie. "Murder is never justified. We can lock him up here."

"Oh, thank you!" said Lockhart.

"Now tell me the truth," said Sadie, pointing her wand at him. "The castle is in lockdown, isn't it? There's no one else here?"

"Indeed," said Lockhart. "McGonagall took them all away. The place is under a ward now."

"Then there's only one thing for it," said Sadie. "Silencio!" She waved her wand at Lockhart, whose voice magically went silent.

They locked the office door behind them.

"It's do dangerous for you to come with us, Chip," said Sadie.

Chip reached out of the bag, grabbing her arm. "Don't leave me!"

"Can Chip really die again, if it's a basilisk or a cockatrice?" Asked Harry.

"No…" said Sadie.

"Then I can help," said Chip.

Sadie sighed and shook her head. "I'll have two of you to worry about."

"Hey! I'm as capable as you," said Harry.

Sadie smiled at him.

In no time at all they were up on the second floor, where the writing on the wall had spawned the whole mess.

Harry shuddered as he read the second message from the Heir of Slytherin: "Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever."

Sadie grimaced at the message. They pushed open the door to the bathroom. Moaning Myrtle was sitting on the toilet tank in the last stall looking miserable as usual.

"What do you want?" she asked when she saw them.

"To ask you how you died," Harry said promptly.

Myrtle's whole aspect changed at once. She looked as though she'd never been asked such a flattering question.

"Ooooh, it was dreadful," she said with relish. "It happened right in here. I died in this very stall. I remember it so well. I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. Hissing and spitting without drawing breath. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a _boy _speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then-" Myrtle swelled importantly, her face shining. "I _died_."

"How?" Harry asked.

"No idea," Myrtle replied in a hushed voice. "I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes. My whole body sort of seized up, and then I was floating away. . . ." She looked dreamily at Harry. "Then I came back again. I was determined to haunt Olive Hornby, you see. Oh, she was sorry she'd ever laughed at my glasses."

"Where exactly did you see the eyes?" Harry pressed.

"Somewhere there," Myrtle answered, waving vaguely toward the sink in front of her toilet.

It looked like an ordinary sink. Then Harry saw it: scratched on the side of one of the copper taps was a tiny snake.

"That tap's never worked," said Myrtle brightly as he tried to turn it.

"Say something, Harry," said Sadie. "Something in Parseltongue."

"But-" Harry thought hard. The only times he'd ever managed to speak Parseltongue were when he'd been faced with a real snake. He stared hard at the tiny engraving, trying to imagine it was real.

"Open up," he said.

He looked at Sadie.

"Not Parseltongue," she said.

Harry looked back at the snake, willing himself to believe it was alive. If he moved his head, the candlelight made it look as though it were moving.

"Open," he said.

Except that the words weren't what he heard. A strange hissing had escaped him, and at once the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. Next second, the sink began to move; the sink, in fact, sank, right out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for a man to slide into.

Harry grimaced. "Another dark hole. Just like last year, remember?"

Sadie sighed. "Except that now we don't have our friends to help."


	19. Chapter 19

**The True Heir**

"If the monster is a basilisk, or a cockatrice, we're gonna need to shield our eyes," said Sadie. She took a pair of goggles from her satchel. They were made of a kind of misty purple glass. Sadie put them on, looking really weird with the glassy lenses on top of her green plastic looking face. Harry couldn't quite stop himself smiling in amusement at her. She smiled back. "I've spoken forbidden words over these. They've got moonlight trapped in them, filtered through the distortion globe you kindly got me."

Harry remembered the Dark artefact he and Lucius had got her for her birthday. "Glad you er… had fun with it," said Harry.

She smiled with the lips of her mask and held out a pair to Harry.

"I'd look a bit dopey with those on, but whatever," said Harry, snapping them over his eyes. They made everything look purple and slightly misty. Harry supposed that was the idea.

"I don't need goggles, do I Mummy?" squeaked Chip from her bag.

"No, honey," said Sadie. "You're well past being hurt by a basilisk or a cockatrice. But either strange beast could hurt us. It it's a cockatrice, it has poisonous breath on top of a lethal stare." She took two strips of purple silk from her pocket and wrapped one around her mouth. "That's the best I could do at short notice," she said, her voice slightly muffled. She held the other strip of silk out to Harry.

Oh well, Harry shouldn't mind looking even dorkier. He wrapped the silk around his mouth. It was very thin silk so he could breathe through it. It put a slightly sweetish taste on his lips. Hopefully Sadie knew what she was doing.

"So we're going to rescue her?" said Chip. "Rescue Ginny Weasley? Like you said?"

"I don't know," said Sadie and her voice sounded sad. "I really hope we're not too late."

Harry thought it seemed a pretty remote chance that Ginny would still be alive, but he didn't see how he could turn back now. He peered down the pipe.

"Hang on!"

Sadie insisted on knotting them together with a purple rope. Harry could fit in the pipe while clutching Sadie in his arms. She had Chip and her bag roped around her.

It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide. Harry could see more pipes branching off in all directions, but none as large as his, which twisted and turned, sloping steeply downward, and he knew that he was falling deeper below the school than even the dungeons.

"Wheee!" squeaked Chip.

It was distracting with Sadie's cold, plastic cheek pressed against his. They thudded at a curve in the pipe, and Harry almost lost his grip on her. He held her very tight around her waist, making her squeak. Then the pipe levelled out. They shot out of the end and landed with a wet thud on the damp floor of a dark stone tunnel large enough to stand in.

Harry unknotted the rope and lifted Sadie to her feet.

"Thanks, Harry." She was swaying slightly.

" _Lumos_!" Harry muttered to his wand, and it lit up the darkness.

"That ride was fun!" Chip exclaimed.

"Glad you liked it," said Sadie. "I feel woozy." She was covered in greenish muck, somehow even more than Harry and Chip were.

"I'd say we're under the lake," Harry observed, squinting around at the dark, slimy walls. "Judging from the wetness. Just like the sewers."

Harry had grown up with his adoptive mother in a cave in the sewers beneath London.

Harry stared into the darkness ahead. He felt a prickling sense of unease. Was there spooky magic waiting for them? He felt a chill down his spine. "The dark could swallow us!" he said aloud.

"That does sound exciting!" said Sadie. "But don't forget about the monster. We've gotta be on our toes."

Harry and Sadie held hands, and off they went, their footsteps slapping loudly on the wet floor.

The tunnel was so murky that they could only see a little distance ahead, even Harry's wand giving off white light and Sadie's a beam of purple light. Their shadows danced on the wet walls and seemed monstrous to Harry's imagination. All around them, it was quiet as a grave. Sadie was looking around with keen interest. It was dead silent, so they both jumped when they heard a loud _crunch! _

_"_What's wrong?" squeaked Chip.

"I think I stepped on something," Harry said in a shaky voice. Sadie pointed her wand at the floor and they saw the source of the unexpected sound. It was a rat's skull, now crushed to splinters beneath Harry's shoe. The whole ground was littered with small animal bones.

"I hope Ginny's not a skeleton already," said Harry, remembering the Heir's writing on the wall.

"Ohhh, so do I," moaned Sadie.

"Could you bring her back as well, Mummy?" asked Chip. "If she were dead?"

"I doubt it, darling," said Sadie.

Then they saw something more impressive than a rat skull. Harry could just see the outline of something huge and curved, laying right across the tunnel. It wasn't moving.

"Don't move!" murmured Sadie. "Snakes hear vibrations." She flicked her ward towards the shape. The purple light slid over a gigantic snake skin, of a vivid, poisonous green, lying curled and empty across the tunnel floor. The creature that had shed it must have been twenty feet long at least.

"Magnificent," Sadie breathed. "Basilisk skin." She ran her little fingers over the skin with a rustling sound, like she was stroking ancient parchment. "This is an old skin. The basilisk will be even bigger than this now."

"Is a basilisk better or worse than a cockatrice?" asked Harry.

"Yes, Mummy, what's the difference?" squeaked Chip.

"A cockatrice is from a hen's egg hatched by a toad or snake," said Sadie. "A basilisk is a deadly serpent's egg hatched by a chicken. Bad library books get them mixed up all the time. There are even authors of books about Gryffindors who forget that the Wizarding World has never used the metric system of measurement. A cockatrice is like a monster chicken. A basilisk is a massive snake. A basilisk doesn't have poison breath, so we don't need these." They took off their silk masks.

"Weird how none of the teachers worked out it might be a basilisk," said Harry. "Even Hagrid ought to have done, seeing as how he's had fifty years to ponder the mystery of the Chamber. He likes poisonous reptiles as much as you do."

"It is weird," said Sadie. "We're the first to have any clue since the Middle Ages."

"Magic is strange," squeaked Chip. "How does it make such a difference what hatches the egg?"

"You're right," said Sadie, smiling with the lips of her mask. "I think the Muggles might say that magic is 'chaotic.' What a birthright we have!"

"I'm not magic, am I Mummy?" said Chip. "Even though you are."

"Aw, Chip, I think you're magic," said Sadie, brushing the lips of her mask against his smiley mask. Harry thought it weird how her real lips would never touch anything again.

They crept around the giant snake skin carefully. The tunnel turned and turned again. Every nerve in Harry's body was tingling unpleasantly. He wanted the tunnel to end but dreaded what he'd find when it did. He didn't get why Sadie was happily humming an eerie tune. The ambience of this place was seriously creepy. Then, at last, torchlight was visible as they crept around yet another bend. Ahead he saw a solid wall, adorned with a carving of two entwined serpents, their eyes set with great, glistening emeralds.

Harry and Sadie held hands as they stood before the doors. There was no need to pretend these stone snakes were real; their eyes looked strangely alive, and he could guess what he had to do. He cleared his throat, and the emerald eyes seemed to flicker.

" _Open_," said Harry, in a low, faint hiss.

The serpents parted as the wall cracked open, each half sliding smoothly out of sight. Harry, was shaking from head to foot as they walked inside. They stood at the end of a very long, dimly lit chamber. Towering stone pillars entwined with more carved serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place.

They raised their wands and moved forward between the serpentine columns. Every careful footstep echoed loudly off the shadowy walls. Harry kept his eyes narrowed, ready to clamp them shut at the smallest sign of movement. The hollow eye sockets of the stone snakes seemed to be following him.

"Beautifully decorated," said Sadie.

With a jolt of the stomach, Harry thought he saw a serpent stir.

"What's wrong?" asked Sadie, sensing his unease.

"It's just this place," said Harry. "It feels weird and I don't like it."

"Aw." Sadie squeezed his hand. "It's the ancient magic left to ferment." She breathed through her nose. "Mm, you can almost smell it."

As they drew level with the last pair of pillars, a statue as high as the Chamber itself loomed into view, standing against the back wall. Harry craned his neck to look up into the giant face above; it was ancient and monkeyish, with a long, thin beard that fell almost to the bottom of the wizard's sweeping stone robes, where two enormous grey feet stood on the smooth Chamber floor.

"Our founder!" said Sadie. "I'd be honored to meet him if he hadn't started this hatred of Muggleborn stuff."

Eerie lights flared, lighting a circle on the stone floor at the statue's feet. Ginny was lying in the center.

Sadie was about to start forward, but Harry restrained her. "It's probably a trap."

"Oh Weasley, please be alive," said Sadie, staring at the red headed girl.

They crept forward. Ginny was so pale she looked like a ghost = if a ghost had a lot of freckles. Sadie leaned down to touch her cheek. "Cold…" she whispered.

"Will she wake up?" asked Chip, fearfully.

"She won't wake," said a hollow voice. Harry spun around, pointing his wand at the source. A tall, black-haired boy was leaning against the nearest pillar, watching. He was strangely blurred around the edges, as though Harry were looking at him through a misted window, but there was no mistaking him.

Sadie peered at the intruder, her disfigured face creasing as her eyes narrowed behind the strange goggles.

"Tom?" Harry was very confused. "Tom Riddle? How are you here?"

"Yes. How indeed," said Sadie. She sounded odd, but that could be just her usual strangeness.

"What's wrong, Mummy?" squeaked Chip.

"Are you a ghost?" asked Harry.

"A memory," Riddle said quietly. "Preserved in a diary for fifty years."

He pointed at Ginny, and Harry felt a shock as he recognized the little black diary that he had found in the second floor girls' bathroom. The last he'd known, the thing had been in the bottom of his school bag. Now it was clutched possessively in Ginny's little hands, open, and glowing with a strange light.

"I think we know our enemy," said Sadie in a brittle voice. "Tom Riddle. What have you done to Ginny?"

Riddle smirked. "Ginny did it to herself. She spilled all her secrets to an invisible stranger. She told me _everything_, all her pitiful woes and worries: how her brothers _tease _her; how she had to come to school with second-hand robes and books, how humiliated she was at having detention until February," Riddle paused. "Partly my doing. I gave her the idea of getting revenge on the Malfoy boy with a Dark Spell."

"Draco's my friend!" Harry shouted. "_You _did that?"

Sadie was breathing through her nose and she was trembling.

"Riddle's a real villain isn't he Mummy?" squeaked Chip.

Riddle bowed. "Thank you. The worst, though was having to hear about Ginny'scrush on Ron's worst enemy: Harry Potter, one of those 'evil Slytherins'. She said she had a thing for bad boys, but not too bad. It's very boring, having to listen to the silly troubles of an eleven-year-old girl," Riddle continued, "but I was patient. I pretended to care and Ginny simply loved me. Ginny poured out her soul to me and I grew stronger on a steady diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets. Strong enough to start feeding Ginny a few of my _own _secrets, to start pouring a little of _my _soul back into _her_."

"It's obvious you're the Heir of Slytherin," said Sadie, glaring at Riddle. "You made Ginny open the Chamber of Secrets."

Riddle clapped mockingly. "Very good, freak. Ginny is the one who strangled the school roosters and wrote the messages on the walls. She set the Serpent of Slytherin on all the Mudbloods, and the Squib's cat. She didn't _know _she was doing it at first, of course, and it took her a long time to stop trusting her diary. Then she tried to dispose of me and that's where you come into the story, Harry Potter. Of all the people who could have picked it up, it was _you_, the person I most wanted to meet."

"Me? Why me?"

"Poor little Ginny told me all about you, Harry Potter. I know your whole fascinating history." Riddle's eyes flicked up to the scar on Harry's forehead. "I knew I had to learn more about you, talk to you, even meet you if I could. I showed you my framing that half-breed Hagrid, to gain your trust. I was furious when the next time it was stupid little Ginny writing to me again. She saw you with the diary, you see, and she panicked. What if you figured out how to work it and I repeated all her secrets to you? What if I told you who had been strangling roosters, attacking students, and so on? The foolish little brat knew she'd never be able to break into Slytherin House, so she caught you between classes, made your bag tear, pounced on you, and filched it right in front of you."

_"_So that was why the bag broke," said Sadie.

"Mummy, why is Riddle telling us all this?" squeaked Chip.

"Not you, little ghost," said Riddle. "I'm only interested in Harry Potter. I took a gamble that if I made Ginny write her own farewell on the wall and come down here, her brother would beg you to save her. Soon she will die, and I will be reborn. Until that moment comes, I've been waiting for you, Harry Potter. I have many questions."

"Like what?" demanded Sadie. She was glancing from Riddle to the diary.

"How is it that Harry escaped with nothing but a scar while Lord Voldemort's powers were destroyed?"

"What do you care?" demanded Sadie.

"Voldemort," Riddle said softly, "is my past, present, and future."

Riddle traced letters of flame in the air with his finger. The name Tom Marvolo Riddle appeared. With a snap, the letters rearranged to form: I am Lord Voldemort!

Harry's jaw dropped.

"You!" hissed Sadie.

"A worse villain than I thought then," squeaked Chip.

"It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts," Riddle continued with a smirk. "A name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak. They would fear _me_!"

"_I _don't fear you," Harry said defiantly.

"Nor do I," said Sadie, her masked face crinkling as she curled her lip. "You're just a leech now!"

She fired a jet of purple light with her wand at Riddle, but it passed right through him.

"Pathetic!" said Riddle.

Sadie took something from her satchel and muttered a strange sounding word. A cloud of smoke formed and coalesced into a cloud of buzzing insects that went for Riddle, but they flew around and threw him, having no effect.

Riddle hissed and Harry understood.

_"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." _

Slytherin's gigantic stone face was moving. The mouth opened to form a huge black hole. Inside the statue's mouth, something was stirring, slithering up from its depths. The huge snake emerged from the mouth of Slytherin's statue and hit the ground with a floor-shaking thud.

"_Kill him_," Riddle hissed.

Sadie snapped her fingers and the insect cloud dissipated. "Harry, you're a Parselmouth too!" she screeched.

_"Back away!" _Harry ordered the snake in Parseltongue. _"You have no wish to harm me." _

Riddle laughed. "Parseltongue won't help you, Harry Potter. It only obeys _me! _"

"For Darkness' sake Harry, try!" said Sadie.

_"Stop where you are!" _Harry commanded.

_"Kill him!" _Riddle ordered.

The poor snake didn't know what to do. It was confused from having conflicting orders hissed at it. It coiled upon itself, withdrawing into a place of safety and shelter to work things out. The yellow eyes closed.

_"Come to me," _Harry called out to the basilisk, putting all his force of will behind those words.

The serpent uncoiled itself. With only the sound of scales rubbing against scales, the basilisk slid quickly across the floor of the Chamber, answering Harry's call.

"No!" Riddle shouted, too stunned to speak in Parseltongue.

Sadie gave a sigh of relief. She was holding a bracelet with a little dagger attached to it. Was it her backup plan if Harry couldn't convince the basilisk?

_"What is your name, my friend?" _Harry asked.

_"The great one named me Eridhne," _the basilisk replied.

_"A beautiful name," _Harry hissed. _"A beautiful serpent." _

Eridhne curled around Harry, bringing her head up under his hand. He stroked her scales lightly. _"No one has ever asked my name," _she said sadly.

"This cannot be!" Riddle shouted. His voice clearly held his disbelief, his astonishment.

Harry glared at the ghost, or whatever he was. "It is a beast only the Heir can control," he said, paraphrasing the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.

"It is true!" Riddle shrieked.

"Then you are an unworthy descendant of Slytherin," said Sadie. "You're just an evil shade. Harry is the Heir of Slytherin now!"

With a giddy unreal feeling Harry repeated: "_I am the Heir of Slytherin_!"

The words escaped his lips in Parseltongue, and the world seemed to shift radically. Dust filtered down from the ceiling as the whole Chamber shook. For a second, Harry saw the world through a red haze. Eridhne had reared up sharply at his words. She poised herself to strike at Riddle.

"Begone, Riddle, and trouble this school no more," Harry commanded. His voice was unexpectedly deep and strong. "I banish you from Hogwarts forever."

Riddle drew himself up. "You dare?" he hissed. "I-"

_"Strike!" _

The basilisk lunged forward, striking at Tom Riddle. Harry nearly choked when her head passed right through the apparition.

"The diary!" said Sadie, wresting it from Ginny's grasp and throwing it on the floor of the Chamber. "Basilisk venom should work."

_"Bite this book!" _Harry commanded in Parseltongue.

Eridhne lowered her head and bit through the diary.

Riddle screamed in agony as the first drop of venom was absorbed into the diary. A hole appeared in his chest with bright light shining from inside him. More beams of light began to burst from his spectral form, before he burst into a flurry of sparks which faded away.

"Oh Darkness," said Sadie, giving a sigh of relief and putting her hand against her green forehead.

"Is it over, Mummy?" squeaked Chip.

"I really hope so."

_"Thank you, my friend," _Harry hissed to the basilisk.

_"I never liked him much," _Eridhne replied. _"He never talked to me. He never asked my name. All he did was give orders." _

_"It's over now," _Harry told her. _"You must never hurt a student here again." _

She reluctantly agreed. Harry looked all around the Chamber. There was a door at the back that he almost went to go investigate, but fatigue suddenly gripped him, and he would have fallen to the floor if Sadie hadn't caught him, although she almost collapsed herself under his weight.

"You're amazing, Harry!" said Sadie. "I think we've saved Ginny. I really hope we have…"

They hurried to the red headed girl who was stirring. Her eyes opened. She glanced at Sadie then Harry got the breath squeezed from him as Ginny clung to him and wept. What was Harry supposed to do? How could he comfort a hysterical girl?

"There, there, it's alright," said Sadie, patting Ginny's back.

"Yes, don't worry anymore. Mummy knows it's alright," squeaked Chip.

Ginny ignored them both and pressed her face against Harry's cheek. "I – Get me out of here, Harry," she said. "Take me with you."

"OK…" The strange quartet staggered out of the Chamber together. The great doors at the end of the hall opened as they approached to let them through.

"How do we get back up?" Harry wondered.

"Ah… that it a problem," said Sadie. "Does the basilisk have any ideas?"

"_We can't get out of here!" _Harry said in Parseltongue.

"_I will carry you. _"

They climbed onto the basilisk's back, and when they were all securely seated, she slithered rapidly to the pipe by which they had descended to these depths. She darted into it with the greatest of ease, and Harry had to keep his head down to avoid bashing it against the top of the pipe, since the basilisk was so very big that she nearly filled the whole thing. They were moving at great speed, and Harry felt his ears pop as the air pressure changed. When they reached the top, they hopped off her back and out into the girls' bathroom.

_"Farewell, Master," _the basilisk called to him, vanishing back into the depths of the school.


	20. Chapter 20

**Saviours of the School**

They had done it. Against all odds, they had entered the Chamber of Secrets, defeated the Heir of Slytherin, and rescued Ginny Weasley. Now they stood in the second floor girls' bathroom, the three of them all grimy from their journey beneath the school.

"What now?" said Harry.

"We're gonna need help," said Sadie. "Where's Snape? Or Dumbledore? Maybe one of them has come back. Check that wonderful map."

Harry removed the Marauders Map from an inner pocket and tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Ink lines spread over the parchment. "Let's see… is Snape here?"

At that moment, Ginny started sobbing loudly and clutching her face. "I'm going to be expelled. What'll Mum and Dad say?"

"Ginny, you're overwhelmed. Take a deep breath," urged Chip.

"It's alright – the basilisk didn't kill anyone," said Sadie, putting a hand on Ginny's arm. "They can all be cured. Professor Sprout's mandrakes will soon be mature."

"Yes, then they'll all say it was me!" said Ginny irritably. She stopped sobbing and shrugged Sadie's hand off. "Weren't you listening?" She threw her arms around Harry. "Help me, Harry."

Wow, this made Harry uncomfortable!

"I – uh – Professor Snape should know best what to do. Or Dumbledore. Best just ask one of them."

Sadie peered at the map. "Lockhart's still there. Good. We can turn him in when we find someone."

"Let's go!" said Harry, leading the way out of the bathroom.

Ginny folded her arms and glared at him. "After all I've been through, you won't pay attention to me?"

"Don't worry," squeaked Chip. "We're your friends."

Ginny glared at Chip. "Is that your face?" she asked, pointing at his smiley paper mask.

"No, silly, this is a mask," laughed Chip. "Mummy fixed it, didn't you Mummy?"

"Yes, darling, I did," said Sadie.

"Weird," said Ginny.

The Map showed that Professor Lockhart was still in his office.

Harry led their little procession to Professor Lockhart's office. Lockhart was still paralysed and on the floor. Sadie reached into her satchel and drew out little jar of purple glass from her satchel and unscrewed it, tipping out a beetle with a leering skull face. She held it up to Lockhart. Lockhart's eyes bulged.

"Cute, isn't it?" said Sadie. She put it on Lockhart's neck, and it bit him, piercing the skin.

"What'll it do?" asked Harry eagerly.

"It's just the antidote to the paralysing agent," said Sadie. "It works immediately, so c'mon Lockhart – you great fraud! You can get up now. But don't try anything, or I'll trigger the paralysing venom again."

"He should be punished!" Said Harry, raising his wand. "Think what he's done! A serial liar and mind molester."

"Shouldn't let my mum here you say that," said Ginny smirking. "She fancies him."

Harry winced. His own mother not only fancied Lockhart, but even thought he would marry her. Lockhart proved his duplicity by trying to flee from Cora and her unborn baby.

Sadie grimaced, causing her masked to ripple. "Lockhart must answer for his crimes. First, he must be given the chance to tell the truth. How about it, Lockhart? Will you tell Snape or Dumbledore the truth? About everything?"

With a flick of her wand she performed the counter charm to 'silencio' so that Lockhart could speak freely again.

"I most certainly will not," said Lockhart indignantly. "That is, I don't know what you're talking about. If I were a fraud, why would I suddenly confess to a couple of second years for no reason at all instead of making up a plausible excuse for fleeing?"

Sadie tutted. "I'm quite sure I don't know the answer to that one. But you really must tell our teachers the truth. And tell them of your own free will."

Lockhart hauled himself stiffly into a seating position. The paralysing venom was beginning to wear off. "I most certainly will not."

"You should do what Mummy says, Lockhart," squeaked Chip.

"I've had more than enough of strange single mothers," said Lockhart.

Sadie shook her head so that her purple hair rippled and bounced. "A pity you can't cooperate."

She reached into her satchel for another little purple jar. She opened it and tipped out a long, hideous centipede with segmented legs.

"Eugh!" said Ginny, wrinkling her freckled nose in disgust.

Lockhart shrank bag as Sadie held the wriggling centipede above his head. "Hold still…"

She dropped it on Lockhart and it scuttled down his back. Lockhart gave a scream and jumped into the air, flailing his arms.

"The little guy won't bite if you just do what I say, OK?" said Sadie. "If you don't tell the truth he will bite."

"How many bugs in jars do you carry around?" Harry asked her.

"Collecting negative feelings is a hobby of mine," she answered, turning her green face to Harry. "Gotta keep them somewhere."

"You certainly think of the important things," said Harry, lightly touching her shiny green nose.

Sadie grinned while Ginny huffed and folded her arms. "Don't you think I'm pretty?" she demanded.

"Of course you are, Ginny," said Harry, not looking at her.

"You sure are pretty," said Sadie, glancing at her.

"I didn't ask you, McIntyre," said Ginny waspishly. "Do you really think for one moment that I care if you find me pretty?"

"Ginny, do be calm, we just want to help," squeaked Chip. "You've been through a lot."

"I'm the pretty one, here!" said Lockhart indignantly, even forgetting the centipede down his back. "Don't you forget it."

Harry rolled his eyes. What a vain fool Lockhart was!

"Where are Snape and Dumbledore then?" demanded Ginny. "If you have to turn me in."

"Good question," said Harry. "How can we call them? Wait… I don't believe it." As he looked at the map, two dots appeared in Snape's office. Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. "So now they turn up. In Snape's office?"

Sadie peered at the map. "Great! Let's go guys. Lockhart – don't you dare think about running away, or my sweet little bug will bite!"

Lockhart groaned as Sadie forced him along at wand point. He didn't look remotely handsome anymore. In fact, he looked weak chinned and weedy.

Harry led the way down to Snape's office, knocked, and pushed the door open. Snape was there, and so was Dumbledore. Snape gave a start at the sight of them – Harry and the girls were covered in muck and grime. Dumbledore however smiled and opened his arms in a gesture of welcome. "My fine, brave Slytherins, welcome! Do tell us all."

Harry and Sadie looked at one another and nodded. They told everything – the visitation from the Bloody Baron, their conversation with Moaning Myrtle, the Chamber of Secrets, and T. M. Riddle. When Harry said that he had taken control of the basilisk, Snape sat down in his chair with a stunned look. Sadie grinned at him. "Isn't it cool, Professor?"

Snape frowned at her.

"Yes, McIntyre, it is wonderful to have such a beast as an ally," said Dumbledore. "I will have to investigate the Chamber myself and put up more effective wards so that it is no longer accessible simply by speaking Parseltongue. But a basilisk is a real boon and blessing. Harry will have to help us with the interpreting. But think of the help such a rare magical beast could provide in research for potions and healing."

"Yay!" Sadie danced an awkward little jig, still encumbered by her satchel.

"You'd like to dance, Mummy?" squeaked Chip, his head poking out of her bag.

Ginny was sniffling. "Never mind the dancing. I'm going to be expelled and I was hoodwinked by Tom Riddle. I was took!"

"There will be no punishment," said Dumbledore calmly. "Much older and much, much cleverer wizards than you have also been hoodwinked by that vile creature." He glanced at Snape. "Don't you agree about that, Severus."

A faint frown line appeared on Snape's brow.

"We forgave Quirrell," said Sadie, nodding. "You Know Who hoodwinked him."

"I doubt the headmaster was referring to that dunce when he stressed much, much cleverer," said Snape.

"But Ginny was also possessed by that evil parasite and we cured her," said Sadie.

"No, you were really the one who cured them both," said Harry, giving her a one armed hug and making her grin.

"What do I have to do to get your attention?" demanded Ginny. "Paint my face green or something?"

"Your parents should be arriving at any moment," Snape told Ginny. "They were called when we learned of your abduction." He tossed a handful of powder into the fireplace and placed a folded note into the flames. Harry saw a hand suddenly appear in the fire and pluck the parchment out.

"I have informed Professor McGonagall," Snape identified the hand, "and asked her to bring them here directly."

"Thank you, sir."

"You appear to have suffered no serious injuries, but I believe Madam Pomfrey will want to have a look at you. I won't send for her until you see your parents."

"But one of us is keeping very quiet about his part in this dangerous adventure," said Dumbledore. "Why so modest, Gilderoy."

Sadie turned to Lockhart. "Haven't you got something you'd like to say?" she asked, an edge to her voice.

Lockhart trembled. "I – I was planning to leave rather than face the Heir of Slytherin. Uh… I was going to run away."

Snape curled his lip at Lockhart. "I had already guessed as much."

Sadie was glaring. Lockhart went on in a rush: "I have not really done the feats I wrote about. My books wouldn't have sold half so well if I hadn't taken the credit. Who wants to read about ugly warlocks or witches with no grace? I tracked twelve heroes and heroines down, interviewed them on their accomplishments, then performed a slight memory modification so they would no longer remember doing it."

"This comes as no surprise," said Snape. "Lockhart, you are a third-rate charlatan. It has been awful having to think of you as a colleague."

"You have played a dangerous game of deception, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore. "A trial before the Wizengamot is in order. Take him away, Severus."

Snape nodded and grabbed Lockhart by the scruff of his robes.

"There's a bug on him," said Sadie hurriedly. "Take care."

"Thank you, McIntyre, I can deal with any bug you could dole out," said Snape drily. "Miss Weasley, come with us. I'll take you to your parents."

"Thank you, sir."

Snape took Lockhart and Ginny away.

"It is a strange thing," said Dumbledore. "I once knew and loved a fair, blue eyed wizard, who turned out to be a real villain. Much more evil than Lockhart."

"More of a villain than Lockhart? I doubt," said Harry.

"Indeed he was," said Dumbledore. "He tore apart my family and broke my heart and that was just the beginning. Just be glad that you still have your mother, Harry."

There were tears in Sadie's blue eyes. "Oh, Professor, I'm so sorry to hear that. I had absolutely no idea."

"There are many mysteries in this world, and many things still beyond your comprehension, you good, brave girl," said Dumbledore.

"A villain hoodwinked you, Professor?" squeaked Chip. "I've heard so much about you and how clever you are. I'm amazed you were hoodwinked."

"It goes to show that even the best of us are not infallible," said Dumbledore. "And that life goes on. Cora's heart will heal. Harry, you need not worry for your mother. She and her child are better off without that villain Lockhart. As are we all."

Sadie sniffed. "Well said."

Harry nodded. "You're right. I suppose we can just forget Lockhart."

He actually started feeling elation. Lockhart would definitely not be his dad! Lockhart was out of the picture!

"One thing, Professor," said Sadie. She still sounded like she had a lump in her throat. "Riddle has a special award for services to the school. That really has to go. It's a disgrace that it's still in the trophy room."

"I suppose you're right," said Dumbledore. "I must see that Riddle's shield is melted down. More importantly, you will both receive such awards. You both have earned them."

* * *

00O00

The other students and staff were beginning to return to Hogwarts in a phased manner. The Slytherins returned first. Harry and Sadie went to the boys' dorm. Harry wanted to collapse on his bed, but his plan was foiled when the other girls piled into the room, followed by Draco and Theo. They were all demanding to know where Harry and Sadie had been.

Sadie grinned. "Hey guys!"

Harry groaned. "Sadie can tell you. I'm tired out."

At that moment, Tracy squealed and scooped Sadie up in her arms, kissing her fiercely on the mouth, regardless of the fact that she was so mucky after being in the Chamber.

"Sadie's tongue is busy, Harry," said Daphne. "Can't you tell us?"

Yawning through parts of it, Harry told the whole story again. This time, when he told about the basilisk and how he had taken control of it, Harry left out the part about Riddle being Voldemort. Their friends wouldn't know this.

"Riddle wasn't solid yet, and Sadie came up with the idea of letting the diary absorb some basilisk venom, and there was a pretty spectacular light show as Riddle disintegrated. Ginny came back to normal, and that's pretty much it." Harry yawned. "Can I sleep now?"

"Take a bath first," said Daphne.

* * *

00O00

"Harry? Harry, wake up."

As a voice dragged him out of the darkness, Harry gradually realized who its owner was. With a grunt, he rolled onto his back and mumbled a reply.

"G'way, Draco."

Sadie had gone to sleep with Tracy in the girls' dorm after going for a bath and hair dyeing. Harry needed rest too! Couldn't Draco respect that?

"Harry, Percy is here. He wants to thank you."

"Send him in." He pulled his pillow over his head.

"Theo and I have been talking," Draco continued. "Have you realized what's gone on tonight?"

"I saved the school?" Harry's voice was muffled.

"You saved a witch's life. She owes you a debt, and so does Percy."

"Eh?" Harry woke up when he heard that.

"He said to you that if the Heir needed a life that it should be his, right?"

"Something like that."

"If he would give his life for hers, and you saved her, then his life now belongs to you," Theo interjected. "Next year's Head Boy is bound by magical law, and his own word, to repay you for Ginny's life. We… I mean you, should take full, _full _advantage of it. Harry, next year we could _own _this school."

Harry was fully awake now, but his brain was still fuzzy. "To what end?"

"To the only end!" Draco answered. "Power!"

Theo rubbed his hands together. "Just think, if you had the sworn loyalty of the Head Boy, just imagine: bathing in the prefects' bathroom; he could get books from the Restricted Section and make Sadie happy, you could sic him on the other Quidditch teams! The possibilities are endless!"

"Plus there's after he leaves school," Draco added. "Think about the future, Harry. Percy is going to go far in life, with Father's help. He might even be Minister for Magic someday. He's the sort you want to have under your thumb."

Harry was troubled. He had never even thought about these sorts of things. After he finally undid the last vestiges of Voldemort, he had thought he just wanted to go back to live with his mother. But his friends had been raised to take their places in wizarding society. If Harry wanted to join them, he needed to play by those rules. He thought about it. He could do it for his mother too. Improve her social standing.

"So what should I do?" he asked slowly.

"Ceremony," Theo said immediately. "Call him in, tell him to bow down to the Heir of Slytherin, and demand his loyalty. He won't like it much; he's four years older than us, and no prefect wants to acknowledge a younger student as his superior. In the end, though, he'll do it. He's got too much honour to refuse."

"And then?"

"Then you wait until you need something from him, something real."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning it would be amusing to be able to order him around like a slave, but futile," Draco told him. "He's a resource to be exploited prudently. Ronald we could order around for fun, but Percy should not be wasted."

Harry turned it over in his mind.

"Ok," he said finally. "Let me get dressed."

He chose his clothes with care, instinctively knowing that he was about to set in motions events that would have severe ramifications. How things would change, Harry didn't know. His hair refused to stay groomed, as usual, but otherwise he looked neat. While he dressed, Draco directed Crabbe and Goyle in the rearrangement of the room.

Harry's chair was set in front of the picture window that had such the wonderful view of the night sky and the moon shining down on the rippling lake below. Draco and Theo stood behind him, while Crabbe and Goyle flanked the door. Draco nodded that all was in readiness, and Theo's spell sent a beam of white light to touch the door with a quiet "click".

Percy's head poked in. "Harry? Finally awake?"

"Come in."

The older boy closed the door behind him. "I wanted to say my thanks," he began. "I was wrong about you. Ginny told us how you saved her." Percy swallowed. "I don't know why you would do that for Ginny, but I thank you beyond what my unskilled tongue can express. I'd been forbidden to leave the common room, and Snape set the lads to keep me prisoner. He also took my wand, and even magicked me to make sure I couldn't go wandering. I was madder than an angry hornet, but he told me if I even stepped into the corridor that I'd go twitching with pain, and the anchor spell would keep me from getting five steps. Harry, you did what I would have died to do, and I don't know how I can ever repay you."

"I want your pledge of loyalty."

Percy started. "Excuse me?"

"I want to know that I can call upon you at some point in the future. I'm sure someone as bright as you will wind up in very influential places."

"You want me to owe you a favour?"

"Not just one favour," Draco told him. "Nor any finite number. Fall down on your knees, Percy Weasley. Swear your loyalty to the Heir of Slytherin."

"The Heir of Slytherin!" Percy gasped. "So it was you that kidnapped my sister!"

"I did _not_!" Harry said in a firm tone. "I killed the former Heir, and I am Slytherin's Heir now. I saved Ginny's life. You wanted to give your life for Ginny's. I accept that offer. I have returned her to you, and now you will give me the payment you so freely offered."

"You'd better pledge _your _life to the will of the Heir," Theo advised. "Unless you're prepared to welch on a magical debt. Make your choice."

"Accept your fate and pay your debt," Draco said.

Percy's face was a study in confusion. He looked back and forth from Theo to Draco and back to Harry, who kept a stern look on his face, mimicking Professor Snape as best he could. Harry could read all the thoughts running through Percy's mind.

"Kneel," he commanded softly.

Percy let out a shuddering breath, bowed his head, and sank to his knees. "I made the deal, and I will keep it. My life is yours."

"You're a good student," Theo said. "Give the oath of used by the Order of Merlin."

"I swear by the magic in my soul and the blood in my veins that I will be faithful to the Lord Potter, to loyally serve his will, and never cause him harm. Let my life be an instrument of his will now and forever. Upon my life, I will observe my homage to him as vassal completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit."

Well _that _certainly was elaborate. Harry slowly exhaled the breath he'd been holding in. This little ceremony was turning out to be far more intense than he had thought it would. He hadn't been fully prepared to accept this new mantle; he'd only been the Heir of Slytherin for a few hours. He was still only Harry, not this Lord Potter. But he would be, someday.

"Rise." Percy stood. "Tell no one of this."

"I won't."

Harry had had enough of this play-acting. "Keep my secrets. You may go."

Percy bowed his head once more, turned, and exited. When the door had shut behind him, Draco let out a brief laugh.

"Looks like you were right, Theo."

"Of course I was right," Theo retorted. "When are you going to realize that I'm _always _right?"

"Ooh! Theo, pride cometh before a fall," said Draco sniggering.

* * *

00O00

After a few more hours of sleep, Harry felt much better. He was perky at breakfast and so were the other Slytherins.

"Such a relief," said Sadie, as she poured honey onto a bowl of yoghurt. "The Chamber business is over, and no one died! It could have been so much worse."

"Yeah, yeah, what really matters is that the school didn't close," said Pansy.

Theo poked her. "You're so morbid, Pansy."

They began to scuffle.

"What's got you lot so lively?" Miles Bletchley the Quidditch captain asked over his coffee mug. "I can barely keep my eyes open."

"You should be getting plenty of sleep with Quidditch practices being cancelled," Harry retorted. "I just hope we're ready for Ravenclaw in two weeks."

Bletchley raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that matches are back on? I only heard a few minutes ago from Madam Hooch."

"So that means we have practice today?"

"Yes, it does. Well?"

"Well what?"

"Are you going to answer my question?"

"What question?"

Bletchley snorted. "Just for that, I'm going to work you hard today."

"As opposed to any other day?"

"Shut up, Potter."

Professor McGonagall stood up.

"Attention everyone! I have a very important announcement." The Great Hall quieted. "Last night, one of our students was kidnapped into the Chamber of Secrets by the Heir of Slytherin."

Gasps arose from all corners as those who hadn't known were shocked to the quick.

"But the Heir blundered!" the Deputy Headmistress trumpeted. "His path to the Chamber was traced. The Heir and the Beast were killed. The threat to Hogwarts is lifted!"

Riotous cheering erupted. Months of tension and pressure were released all at once in an explosive display. It was like celebrating a Quidditch match, but for the whole school. Harry joined in, even as he wondered how old McGonagall could lie to them with such a straight face.

"While the Mandrakes will not be ready for another few weeks-"

"Three weeks," Professor Sprout interjected.

"-three weeks, we can at least rest easy knowing that the threat is ended."

Cheers came from those Houses of Petrified students.

"Back to normal," Pansy sighed with relief. "Which means classes."

"All of the new security measures are hereby rescinded, and Quidditch practices may resume as normal."

More cheering, louder this time, as Gryffindor and Slytherin cheered loudest.

That day of classes seemed as light-hearted and carefree as the first day back from holiday. Professor Snape even seemed almost cheery as they brewed up some Pest Repellant Potion. Professor Flitwick smiled as he lectured, and his voice was once again chipper. Even Professor McGonagall wasn't nearly as curt with the Slytherins as she usually was. Collectively, the castle breathed one huge sigh of relief.

Professor Snape called the house together in the common room that night. After returning from dinner, all Slytherins loitered around making small talk while they waited. After only a few minutes, their Head of House came through the wall.

"As you are all now no doubt aware, Professor Lockhart has been exposed as a fraud and a villain. We are left without a Defence teacher. As the school year is nearly over, there is little point to bringing in someone new, so I will be taking over your lessons, Slytherins."

"Prodigious!" Tracy clapped.

Draco whooped.

"This is wonderful!" said Sadie, grinning.

Scattered applause echoed their sentiments.

"The other Heads of House will be teaching their own students. As you all ought to know by now, I will be no easy taskmaster. Some of you have already come to me in preparation for the OWLs and NEWTs given Lockhart's…"

"Uselessness?" Lawrence Derrick, a sixth year, suggested.

"Yes," Snape smiled. "I suggest you catch up on your reading. My evaluations begin tomorrow. Good night."

"Snape knows the subject," Sadie enthused, as she followed the boys down to her dormitory. "Finally. A teacher who appreciates the Darkness."

"You like the Darkness a lot, Mummy?" squeaked Chip.

"Yes. It gave me you, Chip," said Sadie, kissing his smiley mask.

* * *

00O00

The next day, the rest of the students and staff were moved back into Hogwarts. Cora would be back too. Professor Snape called Harry and Sadie aside to give them the message. "Your mother is in the Hospital Wing, Potter. I'm sure she will be suitably displeased about your hunting for danger. Despite that, I daresay she'll just want to hug you."

Harry and Sadie hurried up to the Hospital Wing where Cora was in an enclosed private room. The hag was lying on the one bed in that room. The sunlight streaming in through the window shone off her green nose and cheeks. Her bright red hair was loose on the pillow. Her belly was really big now. "You mustn't over-exert yourself, dear," Madame Pomfrey was telling her.

Cora turned to look at them and Harry felt a twinge of guilt when he saw that her eyes were green tinged – her version of being bloodshot (she had green blood after all – her bloodshot eyes would not look red). Her face was stained with tears.

"Harry!" Her voice sounded hoarse, like she'd been crying a lot.

Harry ran forward with Sadie following behind. His mother scooped him into her arms. Her belly got in the way as she hugged him. "You went … into … danger again?" she said, and it sounded like she was choking.

"Please Cora, Percy Weasley was desperate for help," said Sadie. "His little sister was in mortal danger. Harry's too kind to refuse such a cry for help."

"That's right!" squeaked Chip, his head poking out of her satchel.

"I disapprove of blundering into danger as much as anyone," said Madame Pomfrey. "But the headmaster says they've proven to be real heroes yet again. I suppose we have to defer to the headmaster and say 'congratulations.'"

"The messy Chamber of Secrets business is over," said Harry. "And don't worry about that slimy Lockhart, he's not worth it. We're together now, that's what matters."

"And you've got me as well, if you need a shoulder to cry on!" said Sadie, touching Cora's shoulder.

"I want to help too," squeaked Chip.

"And just think… I'm getting a baby brother or sister," said Harry. He thought Cora ought to just think about this part.

"Sister," said Madame Pomfrey. "Hags give birth to girls. Cora, you must be strong for both your children. Who cares for that no-account Lockhart?"

"This is wonderful, Harry's gonna have a sister!" said Sadie.

Cora gave a wan smile. "Yes. Her name will be Goldie."

At that moment, a distraction arrived in the form of Hagrid, the huge groundskeeper.

"Just wanted ter say, thank you," said Hagrid. "Dumbledore tol' me. If yer hadn' been such ruddy young heroes, I'd still be… you know where." He shuddered.

Sadie grinned. "Soo glad you're back, Hagrid. We got to meet a real live basilisk. It's a friendly basilisk now. We're gonna get to visit her. Dumbledore will need Harry to interpret for her when we go down there for special potion ingredients. Wish you could come."

"Ar, I wish too. Yer lucky things," said Hagrid wistfully. "Never min'. I c'n make your lives really fun as a was of sayin' thank yer."

"Just inviting us to tea will be enough thanks," said Sadie hastily.

* * *

00O00

Sometimes it felt like Harry's head was spinning with all hexes, curses, and jinxes they were learning. There were three important characteristics of a spell, according to Professor Snape: You must possess the words; You must know the effects; You must have the counter. He drilled the words into them like a mantra. Harry's respect for his Head grew enormously.

Professor Snape came around several weeks later with the forms for the new classes.

Harry's choices had been effectively made for him, but he didn't mind. Sadie and Draco had signed up for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes without any hesitation at all. Theo, Pansy, Tracy, and Daphne likewise opted for "Double A's", as Slytherin House called the two challenging classes. Harry would be in good company.

Which was not to say that the other classes would have a lack of Slytherins. Crabbe, Goyle, and Millie all signed up for Care of Magical Creatures. Each was also taking one of the "A's" (Ancient Runes for Goyle, Arithmancy for Crabbe and Millie).

Daphne had been very insistent that she would not sit up in the Divination Tower by herself. The funny girl was taking a third class, and she teased Crabbe and Goyle into putting their names down as well. Harry thought it quite ambitious of the trio.

Since the Chamber of Secrets had been closed, the terror of the past year had begun to fade in the minds of the students. Easy laughter could now be heard in most corners of the castle, chasing away the shadows of fear. With the Mandrakes harvested, chopped, and stewed, the petrified Muggleborns had been returned to normal with Professor Snape's Restorative Draught. Each one confirmed for the school that the legendary Beast had indeed been a basilisk; each was greatly relieved to learn of its supposed demise.

* * *

00O00

"Harry, I've got a favour to ask of you." Percy approached Harry one evening.

The last time Percy asked a favour, he had wound up with far more than he bargained for. What might Harry get out of him this time?

"So ask."

"It's Ginny," Percy confessed. "She came to me crying yesterday that the Gryffindors flat-out told her they think she's weird and want nothing to do with her. She's only a first year; she's got to live with these people for the next six years."

"Aw. So sad," said Sadie shaking her head.

"It is sad," squeaked Chip.

"What's this got to do with me?" demanded Harry.

"Could you maybe be friends with her?" Percy asked. "It's like she said. Nobody else could possibly understand what she's been through."

"I'd be her friend," said Sadie. "It's just sad that we can't get the Hogwarts Togetherness Society going again. All this bad feeling the Chamber of Secrets created…"

"Ginny's not interested in Hogwarts Togetherness, nor does she like members of her own gender much," said Percy, talking over her.

"What about your brothers?" Harry wanted to know. "Don't they care?"

Percy made a rude noise. "The twins just told her to perk up. They've been tormenting her with hissing noises and snake jokes. Ron is furious that you saved her. He said she should have died rather. He's twisted."

"Ugh! How twisted!" said Sadie.

"Ron is basically evil," said Percy. "I've only got a year left, and what happens when I'm gone?"

"Everyone needs friends," Harry agreed. "If she's willing to be seen with us awful Slytherins, I'll let her hang around. But she has to get on with all my friends. I've got seven. Two awesome boys and five great girls! And then there's Chip too, don't forget him."

Percy bowed his head. "Thank you, that will be marvellous. Ginny will get on with your friends. I bet she'll say it's a small price to pay in order to get her arms around Harry Potter."

"A strange thing to say," squeaked Chip.

"Ginny's nothing if not determined," said Percy.

Sure enough, Ginny wasted no time in seeking out Harry's company. The red-haired girl joined the second year Slytherins at dinner that very night. With an admirable sort of directness, she held her chin high as she walked straight to the Slytherin table, not even glancing towards her house.

"Hey!" said Sadie. "Don't be shy."

"Look what we have here," Pansy smirked. "A lost Gryffindor."

"Not lost, Parkinson," Ginny replied coolly, "just adventurous."

Theo snickered as Pansy blushed. "She's witty."

"Not as witty as me!" said Pansy poking him.

"Witty enough," Ginny retorted. " Potter, I'd like to join your little group here."

"Are you brave enough to sit with Slytherins, little Weasley?" Daphne asked with a touch of a lilt.

"We're a rough crowd," said Theo.

"I grew up with six brothers, Nott. It doesn't get much rougher than that. By Merlin, have you forgotten the chaotic twins, or the spiteful Ronald? You're a soft touch compared to them."

"I'm sorry you feel so badly about your brothers," said Chip, peeping out of Sadie's bag.

"Why do you want to join us?" Draco inquired. If anyone would have objection to this, he would.

"Because I don't think you'll judge me, Malfoy," Ginny said bluntly. "And my hero is sitting here. He's an acquaintance worth cultivating!" She thrust herself onto Harry's seat and put her arms around him!


	21. Chapter 21

**Birthing and Basilisks**

Sadie and Tracy gripped Ginny and made her sit on her own seat.

"Don't embarrass Harry," scolded Tracy.

Harry felt a little uneasy around Ginny and preferred to sit between Tracy and Sadie.

* * *

00O00

Exams came and went without any excitement. When he had handed in his parchments to Professor Flitwick, Harry checked his schedule only to find that he had nothing left to sit. He crossed Charms from his list, wiped off his quill and tucked it away, crumpled the parchment into a ball, and pitched it in the bin on his way out of the classroom.

His Slytherin friends all gathered in the corridor. Cora was babysitting Chip while Sadie took exams.

"That exam was easy, wasn't it?" Tracy teased. "Sadie? Harry? Wasn't it a no-brainer?"

"It was OK," said Sadie. "Charms isn't my favourite subject."

"Not everyone's as clever as you, Tracy," Harry retorted, sticking out his tongue.

"I thought you were good at Charms," said Draco.

"I am," said Harry. "I wrote loads about everything."

"Nuts," Goyle spoke up. "The profs don't want to read loads."

"Yeah," Crabbe added. "I'm sure the teachers want to eat lunch at some point. As do I. What do you think, Draco? Could we get some food?"

"Are you hungry _again_? Breakfast was only a few hours ago."

"I'm a growing boy."

"Somebody put a brick on his head," Daphne giggled.

"He's not the only one who's hungry," Harry chimed.

"Lunch isn't for another hour," Theo reported, checking his watch. "The plates won't be there."

"Maybe we can get the food to appear anyway," Pansy suggested. "With exams and all, students are coming and going at odd times. I think it might just work."

The gang of Slytherins trumped down the stairs and seated themselves at their table in the Hall. The food didn't immediately appear, so Theo and Draco fell to discussing how incredibly easy the Astronomy exam had been, while the others watched Harry defeat Sadie and then Daphne at Gobstones.

Before too much longer, their new tagalong showed up and put her bag down on the table as well. She unknotted the red and gold tie from around her neck and stuffed it deep into the knapsack with obvious disgust.

Hermione sauntered over as well and sat down beside them.

"What're you doing here?" demanded Pansy.

"Ginny's here," said Hermione.

"What makes you think you have a chance with the famous Harry Potter?" said Ginny with a sneer worthy of Draco himself. "You wear braces. Your hair is all a mess."

Hermione's cheeks flushed pink. "I am not pursuing Harry Potter! I just wanted to talk about Professor Kettleburn's idea for studying Parseltongue. And now that the Chamber of Secrets episode is over we can get back to trying to heal the house divides. It's a pity that Quidditch just divides the houses."

"Don't talk about Quidditch, you'll only embarrass yourself!" said Ginny.

Pansy smirked at that. "Good one!"

"Girls, girls!" admonished Sadie.

The bell sounded the start of lunch, and food instantly began appearing on the table in front of the waiting Slytherins. After lunch, Harry left the hall, holding hands with Sadie. Hermione hurried alongside him and Ginny followed close behind. It was like having an entourage of weird girls.

"We should see Professor Kettleburn right away," said Hermione. "He said I could help with the research on snakes. I've been trying to persuade him for months. He only agreed if you assist with your Parseltongue skills, Harry."

"You're a presumptuous schemer, Hermione Stranger," said Ginny, appearing on Hermione's other side. Hermione was close by Harry's right and Sadie was holding his left hand, so Ginny could only trot alongside Hermione and glare at the other three. "Why don't you find that funny?" she demanded.

"Because it's a bit rude," said Sadie.

"Everyone should roll around the floor laughing just because I say the word 'phlegm,' or fire around Bat Bogey Hexes," snapped Ginny.

"In what universe is it great to have a mucus fixation?" retorted Hermione.

That did make Harry snigger a little bit and Ginny bared her teeth.

Harry knocked on Professor Kettleburn's door.

"Enter."

Harry slipped into the high ceilinged room, wrinkling his nose at the mixture of strange smells – straw, animals, dung, and the scent of magical fermentation.

Hermione covered her nose and mouth with her hand, then flushed, and took her hand away, trying to look as though she did not notice the smells.

Sadie sniffed deeply. "Mmm. A heady aroma."

"You're gross!" said Ginny.

Harry was starting to see why Ginny might be unpopular as she said.

"Good afternoon, Mister Potter," said Professor Kettleburn. "Bringing friends are you? Today we will be interviewing a runespoor. Miss Granger will write it all down."

The runespoor was a curious little snake with three heads.

"_How are you today, little snake_?" asked Harry in Parseltongue.

"I have a plan!" hissed one of the heads. "I'm going to figure a way to get some food. Wait. Do you comprehend the True Language? You can get some food for me."

"_What a wonder it is that a human should be able to communicate with us_," said a second head dreamily.

"_You're both pathetic_!" retorted the third head. "_No wonder you got us landed in this glass prison_."

"_Glass walls do not a prison make_," said the second head.

Harry related this conversation to Professor Kettleburn. Hermione hastily wrote it down.

"As I suspected," said Kettleburn. "The three heads are the planner, the dreamer, and the critic."

"So Professor, you're retiring to spend more times with your remaining limbs?" said Ginny loudly.

Ginny was certainly as unpleasant as the critic head of the runespoor. Harry wondered whether the other two girls would match the other two runespoor traits. Hermione could certainly be a planner, but never a dreamer. Sadie might possibly be called a dreamer, given her antics during the Christmas Hols.

"_Get me beetles!" _demanded the planner head_. "They're my favourite. So crunchy."_

"_I will not share!" _said the critic head. "_Go away and leave me in peace while I eat_."

"He wants beetles," said Harry. "And he doesn't want to share."

"You have a talent worth developing, Potter," Kettleburn praised.

* * *

00O00

The time came for investigating the Chamber of Secrets. Only Sadie accompanied the party of Harry and the Professors. That was a mark of special favour to her. They all had mirrors for looking around corners and special eyeglasses to filter out lethal magic, although Harry was confident that Eridhne would not attack them.

Harry, Sadie with Chip in her bag, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Kettleburn and Snape proceeded to the first floor bathroom.

"Hello Myrtle, how are you?" squeaked Chip.

"How do you think?" Myrtle snapped. "With a gigantic snake wriggling through my bathroom and stuck haunting a toilet?"

"The snake used to be controlled by a seriously evil wizard," said Harry, "but not anymore. Now it's friendly."

"Fat lot of good that does me!" sobbed Myrtle.

"Aw! You're right of course," said Sadie.

"Of course I'm right!" screeched Myrtle.

Snape's wand was out. "An exorcism may be in order," he muttered.

Professor McGonagall gave the ghost a stern look. "You really must be quiet while we work. We won't take long."

Harry found the snake symbol on the tap and hissed: "_Open_!"

The wall opened, revealing the dark pit.

"Our young heroes have shown us the way," said Dumbledore. "The entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

Brooms were conjured. Good enough to get them all down to the dark, slimy tunnels that reeked of magic, slime and basilisk.

"This is unmistakably the lair of a great magical serpent!" said Kettleburn. "What a curious odour! I must mention it in my paper."

"Mm. Isn't it delicious?" said Sadie, sniffing deeply.

"The place could do with a good clean out," said McGonagall.

Bones crunched underfoot and a strange light shone up ahead. They found the basilisk skin.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Sadie.

"The iridescence, the reverse polarisation and the subtle fluorescence all show magic," said Kettleburn.

"The poor basilisk is really big as you can see, and it needs proper feeding," said Sadie.

Harry led them to the Chamber of Secrets.

"Salazar Slytherin, I presume," said Dumbledore, pointing at the huge statue. "This is the place for the basilisk to dine, is it not, Sylvanus?"

"Perfect," Kettleburn affirmed.

"Then let us summon the house elves." With a clap of Dumbledore's hands, the elves of Hogwarts arrived, bearing fresh meat from the vast larders of Hogwarts. Raw and bloody as ordered, chickens, ducks, geese, tenderloins of pork and beef, two sheep carcasses. All flew up to the roof of the Chamber. Sadie was such a poor flier that she was on Harry's broom. It was distracting with her thin arms around his waist.

Harry studied the moving sketch of a snake Kettleburn had given him. "Eridhne!" he called. "_We've brought you food. A feast. Come and get it_."

"_Ah, at last_!"

Eridhne slithered out and began to swallow the raw meat before her. Harry duly reported her words which were all along the lines of "_Meat!_" and "_Tasty_!" Eventually, Eridhne was gorged and slithered back into the statue, ready to sleep and slowly digest her feast. The sleeping draught on the meat would guarantee she would sleep it off.

Basilisk parts were gathered, and venom extracted from the remains of the feast.

"I must see to the wards around the Chamber, so that no villain such as Voldemort can ever get in again!" said Dumbledore.

"This is a crowning moment, my friends," said Kettleburn. "An actual basilisk! Slytherins two young heroes did us a great service, indeed."

* * *

00O00

It was June, and during classes, Harry received a message from Professor Snape telling him to go to the Hospital Wing.

He and Sadie hurried up there. Cora was lying on a bed, her long red hair loose and her green face gleaming with a sheen of sweat. "Her water's broke!" said Madame Pomfrey. "The baby's coming."

"Harry!" she moaned, clutching her son's hand.

Sadie massaged Cora's temples and the hag smiled wanly. "Soon you'll get to hold your beautiful little baby!" said Sadie.

"You can wash her face now, McIntyre!" said Madame Pomfrey. "Potter, you can just be with her."

Sadie dabbed Cora's green face with a sponge.

"I would like to help," squeaked Chip.

"No need," said Madame Pomfrey. "She's in the best of hands."

The hag's huge green belly rippled and pulsed as she pushed. Eventually the baby was born in a hot slippery rush. Cora looked weary, but her blue eyes shone as she cradled the little green child in her arms. "Goldie!" she said. "Harry, you have a new sister."

"Awww!" said Sadie. "Look Chip, Cora has a new baby and Harry has a sister. Harry, this is the right moment for that memory locket."

She was referring to that locket which was to reflect one of Harry's most special memories so that it could be relived. This was definitely the moment. A historical moment. With a giddy feeling, Harry registered that he now had a baby sister! Goldie was bawling her head off, her little mouth in an O, like a polo mint. She already had a little tuft of blond hair on her green head.

"Truly one of the highlights of my job," said Madame Pomfrey.

* * *

00O00

It was the end of term. The Great Hall was hung with green and silver bunting and the great serpent banner hung behind the High Table. Slytherin had won the House Cup again.

Professor Dumbledore was back in his customary seat, sipping a glass of water as he chatted quietly with Professor McGonagall. He stood up a few moments later when the last students had taken their seats.

His eyes were twinkling. "The end of another year."

"We can all live without fear now," Dumbledore continued. "The Beast of the Chamber has been slain, and the Chamber of Secrets sealed forever."

Widespread applause burst out. Harry admired how Dumbledore could lie with a straight face. He fully agreed with the old wizard's position though. Eridhne's existence must be kept a secret shared by only a select few of Dumbledore's staff and Harry's close-knit group of friends. There were those who would hurt the basilisk if she became common knowledge.

"It has been a trying year for all of us. I hope you will all have a nice leisurely holiday to unwind. Certainly we professors could use the rest," Dumbledore joked with a twinkle in his eyes. "But before we get to that, we must recognize the winners of the House Cup. Congratulations to Slytherin, with five hundred sixty points."

The House Cup looked very nice, all shiny silver, sitting at the head of the table next to the Quidditch Cup. Slytherin had beaten Ravenclaw in their match. Gryffindor had actually lost to Hufflepuff and come bottom in both cups once again.

"It's almost too easy," Harry observed.

"Quidditch or the House Cup?" Ginny asked. She was sitting near Harry again, although Sadie, Tracy and Millie were sitting between them.

"Both cups are too easy!" the gang chorused.

* * *

00O00

The next day, the Slytherins were up bright and early to pack their trunks and be off in the horseless carriages down to Hogsmeade station to catch the train. Harry couldn't help but feel sad at his friends leaving the old castle for another long holiday.

Theo shook Harry's hand while Draco clapped him on the back. He hugged the girls each in turn, finally gathering Sadie in his arms and squeezing her so tight she squeaked. She nuzzled his cheek with her green mannequin face.

"Be seeing you soon at Hill House," she murmured. They gazed into one another's eyes. Harry had always found her wide, staring eyes fascinating, but now he thought he couldn't look away. Holding her in his arms felt exciting. Spontaneously they put their mouths together and his lips touched the cold, hard lips of her mask-like face. He was sad at seeing her go, but it wouldn't be for long.

He heard Sadie sniff as the carriage clattered away. He waved and he saw Chip's smiley mask peering out of the carriage window.

"Goodbye!" Chip squeaked. Harry waved until the carriage was out of sight and then went back to the castle and to his mother and sister.

THE END


End file.
